• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.59-67
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• 1993

The variations of the natural frequencies and the peak response acceleration at the top of prestressed concrete reactor building due to random variability and/or model uncertainty of structural parameters are studied. The results may be used as essential input parameters in seismic probabilistic risk assessment or seismic margin assessment of the reactor building. The sensitivity test of each structural parameter is first performed to determine the most influential parameter upon the natural frequency of structure model. Then Monte Carlo simulation technique is applied to evaluate the effect of parameter variation on the natural frequencies and the peak response acceleration. The acceleration time history is obtained by direct integration scheme. As the study results, it is found that the fundamental natural frequency and the peak response acceleration at the top of the building are most strongly affected by Young's modulus among the structural parameters, in which the value of mean plus one standard deviation obtained by probabilistic approach deviates up to about (+)12% from the result of deterministic method. Considering the uncertainty of flexural rigidity, the structural responses vary in range of (-)4%~(+)14%.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the application of various numerical models and frequency contents of earthquakes on the performances of the reactor containment building (RCB) in a nuclear power plant (NPP) equipped with an advanced power reactor 1400. Two kinds of numerical models are developed to perform time-history analyses: a lumped-mass stick model (LMSM) and a full three-dimensional finite element model (3D FEM). The LMSM is constructed in SAP2000 using conventional beam elements with concentrated masses, whereas the 3D FEM is built in ANSYS using solid elements. Two groups of ground motions considering low- and high-frequency contents are applied in time-history analyses. The low-frequency motions are created by matching their response spectra with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1.60 design spectrum, whereas the high-frequency motions are artificially generated with a high-frequency range from 10Hz to 100Hz. Seismic responses are measured in terms of floor response spectra (FRS) at the various elevations of the RCB. The numerical results show that the FRS of the structure under low-frequency motions for two numerical models are highly matched. However, under high-frequency motions, the FRS obtained by the LMSM at a high natural frequency range are significantly different from those of the 3D FEM, and the largest difference is found at the lower elevation of the RCB. By assuming that the 3D FEM approximates responses of the structure accurately, it can be concluded that the LMSM produces a moderate discrepancy at the high-frequency range of the FRS of the RCB.