• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2000

This paper presents a case study with a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system where the Floor Response Spectra (FRS) have been derived from a large ensemble of ground motion accelerograms. The FRS are evaluated by the frequency response function which is calculated numerically. The advantage of this scheme over a repetitive time-history analysis of the entire structure for each accelerogram of the set has been highlighted. The present procedure permits generation of FRS with a specified probability of exceedence.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.179-187
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• 2020

Seismic qualification of equipment including piping is performed by using floor response spectra (FRS) or in-structure response spectra (ISRS) as the earthquake input at the base of the equipment. The amplitude of the FRS may be noticeably reduced when obtained from coupling analysis because of interaction between the primary structure and the equipment. This paper introduces a method using a modal synthesis approach to generate the FRS in a coupled primary-secondary system that can avoid numerical instabilities or inaccuracies. The FRS were generated by considering the dynamic interaction that can occur at the interface between the supporting structure and the equipment. This study performed a numerical example analysis using a typical nuclear structure to investigate the coupling effect when generating the FRS. The study results show that the coupling analysis dominantly reduces the FRS and yields rational results. The modal synthesis approach is very practical to implement because it requires information on only a small number of dynamic characteristics of the primary and the secondary systems such as frequencies, modal participation factors, and mode shape ordinates at the locations where the FRS needs to be generated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.4
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• pp.377-390
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• 2019

A method for estimating the floor response spectra (FRS) of elastic structures under earthquake excitations is proposed. The method is established based on a previously proposed direct estimation method for single degree of freedom systems, which generally overestimates the FRS of a structure, particularly in the resonance period range. A modification factor is introduced to modify the original method; the modification factor is expressed as a function of the period ratio and is determined through regression analysis on time history analysis results. Both real and artificial ground motions are considered in the analysis, and it is found that the modification factors obtained from the real and artificial ground motions are significantly different. This suggests that the effect of ground motion should be considered in the estimation of FRS. The modified FRS estimation method is further applied to a 10-story building structure, and it is verified that the proposed method can lead to a good estimation of FRS of multi-story buildings.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.374-385
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• 2022

In order to investigate the application of 3D base-seismic isolation system in nuclear power plants (NPPs), comprehensive analysis of constitution and design theory for 3-dimensional combined isolation bearing (3D-CIB) was presented and derived. Four different vertical stiffness of 3D-CIB was designed to isolate the nuclear island (NI) building. This paper aimed at investigating the isolation effectiveness of 3D-CIB through modal analysis and dynamic time-history analysis. Numerical results in terms of dynamic response of 3D-CIB, relative displacement response, acceleration and floor response spectra (FRS) of the superstructure were compared to validate the reliability of 3D-CIB in mitigating seismic response. The results showed that 3D-CIB can significantly attenuate the horizontal acceleration response, and a fair amount of the vertical acceleration response reduction of the upper structure was still observed. 3D-CIB plays a significant role in reducing the horizontal and vertical FRS, the vertical FRS basically do not vary with the floor height. The smaller the vertical stiffness of 3D-CIB is, the better the vertical isolation effectiveness is, whereas, it will increase the displacement and the rocking effect of superstructure. Although the advantage of 3D-CIB is that the vertical stiffness can be flexibly adjusted, it should be designed by properly accounting for the balance between the isolation effectiveness and displacement control including rocking effect. The results of this study can provide the technical basis and guidance for the application of 3D-CIB to engineering structure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2696-2707
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficiency of various structural modeling schemes for evaluating seismic performances and fragility of the reactor containment building (RCB) structure in the advanced power reactor 1400 (APR1400) nuclear power plant (NPP). Four structural modeling schemes, i.e. lumped-mass stick model (LMSM), solid-based finite element model (Solid FEM), multi-layer shell model (MLSM), and beam-truss model (BTM), are developed to simulate the seismic behaviors of the containment structure. A full three-dimensional finite element model (full 3D FEM) is additionally constructed to verify the previous numerical models. A set of input ground motions with response spectra matching to the US NRC 1.60 design spectrum is generated to perform linear and nonlinear time-history analyses. Floor response spectra (FRS) and floor displacements are obtained at the different elevations of the structure since they are critical outputs for evaluating the seismic vulnerability of RCB and secondary components. The results show that the difference in seismic responses between linear and nonlinear analyses gets larger as an earthquake intensity increases. It is observed that the linear analysis underestimates floor displacements while it overestimates floor accelerations. Moreover, a systematic assessment of the capability and efficiency of each structural model is presented thoroughly. MLSM can be an alternative approach to a full 3D FEM, which is complicated in modeling and extremely time-consuming in dynamic analyses. Specifically, BTM is recommended as the optimal model for evaluating the nonlinear seismic performance of NPP structures. Thereafter, linear and nonlinear BTM are employed in a series of time-history analyses to develop fragility curves of RCB for different damage states. It is shown that the linear analysis underestimates the probability of damage of RCB at a given earthquake intensity when compared to the nonlinear analysis. The nonlinear analysis approach is highly suggested for assessing the vulnerability of NPP structures.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.137-146
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• 1999

The SSI(Soil-Structure Interaction) analyses are being performed for the KNGR(Korean Next Generation Reactor) design because the KNGR is developed as a standard nuclear power plant concept enveloping various soil conditions. the SASSI program which adopts the flexible volume method is used for the SSI analyses. The soil curves used in the three dimensional SSI analyses of KNGR Nuclear Island(NI) structures are based on the upper bound shear modulus curve and lower bound damping degradation on SSI response the average shear modulus curve with average damping curve was used for two soil cases. This study presents the results of the variances by using different soil nonlinearity parameters based on the paametric SSI analyses. The results include the maximum member forces(shear and axial force) at the base of the NI structures and the 5% damping Floor Response Spectra (FRS) at some representative locations at the top of the NI superstructures. They are also compared together with the enveloped SSI results for eight soil cases and fixed-base analysis for rock case by using two control motions.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.154-162
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• 2019

Large scale damage has been globally increased due to natural disasters such as earthquake. Although a variety of studies secured seismic performance of buildings, casualties and economic loss have occurred because of poor security of seismic performance in non-structural components. Structure's location on which non-structural components are installed and characteristics of vibration occurring on each position of structures are varied, so a response spectrum is required for each position of structures. In addition, a response spectrum occurring in a structure is different, depending on the form of it and positions on which it is installed. Therefore, selection of a response spectrum is important, so a definite method for calculating the response spectrum which acts on non-structural components is necessary. A method for choosing a response spectrum is suggested in this paper, and a structural analysis was conducted with the suggested method, by selecting a ground response spectrum and a structural system, which may occur in Korea. Moreover, it helps create a response spectrum necessary for a seismic test of non-structural components, by suggesting the method for deduction it, with a simple formula.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.133-143
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• 2015

It is very important to assure the seismic performance of equipment as well as building structures in seismic design of nuclear power plant(NPP). Seismically isolated structures may be reviewed mainly on the horizontal seismic responses. Considering the equipment installed in the NPP, the vertical earthquake responses of the structure also should be reviewed. This study has investigated the vertical seismic demand of seismically isolated structure by lead rubber bearings(LRBs). For the numerical evaluation of seismic demand of the base isolated NPP, the Korean standard nuclear power plant (APR1400) is modeled as 4 different models, which are supported by LRBs to have 4 different horizontal target periods. Two real earthquake records and artificially generated input motions have been used as inputs for earthquake analyses. For the study, the vertical floor response spectra(FRS) were generated at the major points of the structure. As a results, the vertical seismic responses of horizontally isolated structure have largely increased due to flexibility of elastomeric isolator. The vertical stiffness of the bearings are more carefully considered in the seismic design of the base-isolated NPPs which have the various equipment inside.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.42-48
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• 2014

The auxiliary-feed-water pump (AFWP) used to supply water during a station black out situation at nuclear power plants should meet the seismic qualification regulations stipulated in IEEE Std 323 and 344, so as to withstand earthquakes or dangerous situations. Here, we establish a model for the estimation of the structural integrity of this type of pump. If the natural frequency that results from a modal analysis is less than 33 Hz, we adopt a dynamic analysis, instead of a static analysis. A dynamic analysis was carried out taking into consideration seismic conditions such as the floor response spectra (FRS), an operation-base earthquake (OBE), and a safe-shutdown earthquake (SSE). Finally, an analytical estimation of the structural integrity of an AFWP is made through a comparison of calculated values and allowable values. If the result is less than the allowable stress, the pump is deemed to have good structural integrity. In addition, future studies will involve a stability check for rotor accidents that may occur during the operation of the pump.