• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.65-71
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• 2001

The nuclear power plant(NPP) should be shut down for inspection and tests prior to a return to power if the earthquake exceeds the operating basis earthquake(OBE). The OBE at the plant is considered to have been exceeded if the computed cumulative absolute velocity(CAV) from the earthquake record is greater than 0.16g-sec. However, the CAV criterion should be determined considering the seismic and structural characteristics of the plant. An experimental study using shaking table is conducted in this study to evaluate intensity of CAV criterion. Appropriate level of CAV is evaluated based on the test results using the developed seismic damage indicator(SDI) model. The model consists of stacked acrylic cylinders and is developed to behave consistently for each directional seismic load. The result of the experimental study in dicates that the CAV criterion of 0.16g-sec is conservative enough to be applied to Korean NPPs since the CAV value of the seismic input motion of the Korean standard NPPs ranges from 0.3 to 0.5 g-sec. The developed SDI is expected to be useful not only in easily determining OBE exceedance but also in evaluating earthquake damage quantitatively to provide guidelines for better post-shutdown inspection and test.