• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.292-296
• /
• 2018

Recent events in the nuclear industry have resulted in a movement towards increased seismic and LOCA excitations and requirements that challenge current fuel designs. AREVA NP's GAIA fuel design introduces unique and robust characteristics to resist the effects of seismic and LOCA excitations. For demanding seismic and LOCA scenarios, fuel assembly spacer grids can undergo plastic deformations. These plastic deformations must not prohibit the complete insertion of the control rod assemblies and the cooling of the fuel rods after the accident. The specific structure of the GAIA spacer grid produces a unique and stable compressive deformation mode which maintains the regular array of the fuel rods and guide tubes. The stability of the spacer grid allows it to absorb a significant amount of energy without a loss of load-carrying capacity. The GAIA-specific grid behavior is in contrast to the typical spacer grid, which is characterized by a buckling instability. The increased mechanical robustness of the GAIA spacer grid is advantageous in meeting the increased seismic and LOCA loadings and the associated safety requirements. The unique GAIA spacer grid behavior will be incorporated into AREVA NP's licensed methodologies to take full benefit of the increased mechanical robustness.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.105-111
• /
• 2018

In this study, the seismic performance and behavior characteristics of the upper truss structure of the large stadium are analyzed by nonlinear dynamic analysis. In the nonlinear dynamic analysis, the earthquake records were generated by site response analysis to simulate the nonlinear behavior of the relevant soil condition where the structure is located. Nonlinear dynamic analysis was performed using Perform-3D and the nonlinear properties of the substructure and the superstructure were determined in accordance with KISTEC guideline. According to the analysis results, excessive deformation occurred in the upper truss element, and plastic hinges exceeded the target performance in some members. Buckling-restrained brace is used for seismic retrofit of stadium structures and the analysis results shows the interstory drift satisfies the target performance level with dissipating the seismic energy efficiently.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.24-31
• /
• 2018

In this paper, specimen tests with simulated large seismic conditions have been carried out to investigate damage characteristics such as structural deformation and crack initiation under seismic loading. The mechanical behavior of the specimens is predicted by numerical simulations and the strain-based damage evaluations are performed. Finite element analyses of the specimens under the simulated seismic loading at room and operating temperatures were carried out for low alloy steel and stainless steel materials. Peak strain amplitude, cumulative fatigue damage and cumulative strain limit damage are calculated considering the nature of cyclic loading. In all cases, the allowable damage criteria are exceeded at the time of observing cracks visually in the tests. Therefore, it is confirmed that the material behavior due to the large seismic loads can be predicted by the numerical method and the structural damage of the materials can be evaluated conservatively based on the strain criteria.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.349-365
• /
• 2020

Since the peak seismic response of a base-isolated building strongly depends on the characteristics of the imposed seismic ground motion, the behavior of a base-isolated building under different seismic ground motions is studied, in order to better assess their effects on its peak seismic response. Specifically, the behavior of a typical steel building is examined as base-isolated with elastomeric bearings, while the effect of near-fault ground motions is studied by imposing 7 pairs of near- and 7 pairs of far-fault seismic records, from the same 7 earthquake events, to the building, under 3 different loading combinations, through three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear dynamic analyses, conducted with SAP2000. The results indicate that near-fault seismic components are more likely to increase the building's peak seismic response than the corresponding far-fault components. Furthermore, the direction of the imposed earthquake excitations is also varied by rotating the imposed pairs of seismic records from 0◦ to 360◦, with respect to the major construction axes. It is observed that the peak seismic responses along the critical incident angles, which in general differ from the major horizontal construction axes of the building, are significantly higher. Moreover, the influence of 5% and 10% accidental mass eccentricities is also studied, revealing that when considering accidental mass eccentricities the peak relative displacements of the base isolated building at the isolation level are substantially increased, while the peak floor accelerations and interstory drifts of its superstructure are only slightly affected.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.15-22
• /
• 2018

Pseudo-static approach has been conventionally applied for the design of gravity type quay walls. In this method, seismic coefficient ($k_h$), expressed in terms of acceleration due to gravity, is used to convert the real dynamic behavior to an equivalent pseudo-static inertial force for seismic analysis and design. Therefore, the calculation of an appropriate $k_h$ considering frequency characteristics of input earthquake is critical for representing the real dynamic behavior. However, the definitions of $k_h$, which is used for simplified analysis in Korea, focuses only on convenience that is easy to use, and the frequency characteristics of input earthquake are not reflected in the $k_h$ definitions. This paper evaluates the influences of the frequency characteristics of input earthquake on $k_h$ by initially reviewing the $k_h$ definitions in the existing codes of Japan for port structures and then by performing a series of dynamic centrifuge tests on caisson gravity quay walls of different earthquake input motions (Ofunato, Hachinohe). A review of the existing codes and guidelines has shown that the $k_h$ values are differently estimated according to the frequency characteristics of input earthquake. On the other hand, based on the centrifuge tests, it was found that the permanent displacements of wall are more induced when long-period-dominant earthquake is applied.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2001.10a
• /
• pp.553-560
• /
• 2001

To substantiate the application of LRB(Laminated Rubber Bearing) to the seismic isolation system, it is necessary to develop a seismic analysis method considering the non-linear behavior of LRBs, which may significantly affect the seismic responses. In this paper, seismic analyses and shaking table tests are carried out for a seismically isolated structure using four LRBs. The parameter equations of seismic isolation frequency are obtained from the shaking table tests and the quasi-static tests of LRB itself to investigate the effects of the LRB characteristics in the prediction of maximum peak acceleration responses by analysis. From the comparison of the maximum peak acceleration responses obtained from numerical analyses and experiments, it is verified that the horizontal stiffness variations of LRB should be carefully considered in seismic analysis to obtain more accurate results.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.681-701
• /
• 2016

This paper presents an experimental study of six steel reinforced high strength concrete T-shaped short-limb shear walls configured with T-shaped steel truss under low cyclic reversed loading. Considering different categories of ratios of wall limb height to thickness, shear/span ratios, axial compression ratios and stirrup reinforcement ratios were selected to investigate the seismic behavior (strength, stiffness, energy dissipation capacity, ductility and deformation characteristics) of all the specimens. Two different failure modes were observed during the tests, including the flexural-shear failure for specimens with large shear/span ratio and the shear-diagonal compressive failure for specimens with small shear/span ratio. On the basis of requirement of Chinese seismic code, the deformation performance for all the specimens could not meet the level of 'three' fortification goals. Recommendations for improving the structural deformation capacity of T-shaped steel reinforced high strength concrete short-limb shear wall were proposed. Based on the experimental observations, the mechanical analysis models for concrete cracking strength and shear strength were derived using the equivalence principle and superposition theory, respectively. As a result, the proposed method in this paper was verified by the test results, and the experimental results agreed well with the proposed model.

• KCI Concrete Journal
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.23-34
• /
• 2000

Experiments were carried out to investigate the seismic behaviors, such as lateral strength, ductility and energy-dissipation capacity. of high-strength concrete (HSC) square short column confined in thin steel shell. The primary objective of the study was to investigate the suitability of using HSC square columns confined in thin steel shell in region of moderate-to-high seismic risk. A total of six columns, consisting of two ordinarily reinforced concrete square short columns and four reinforced concrete square short columns confined in thin steel shell was tested. Column specimens, short columns in a moment resisting frame with girder. were tested under a constant axial and reversed cyclic lateral loads. To design the specimens. transverse reinforcing methods, level of axial load applied, and the steel tube width-thickness ratio (D/t) were chosen as main parameters. Test results were also discussed and compared in the light of improvements in general behaviors, ductility, and energy-absorption capacities. Compared to conventionally reinforced concrete columns, the HSC columns confined in thin steel shell had similar load-displacement hysteretic behavior but exhibited greater energy-dissipation characteristics . It is concluded that, in strong earthquake areas, the transverse reinforcing method by using a thin steel shell (D/t=125) is quite effective to make HSC short columns with very strong and ductile.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.637-647
• /
• 2019

In this study, we analyzed seismic behavior of reinforced earth retaining wall through the model test in order to characterize the behavior of reinforced earth retaining wall during earthquake. A scale model test was performed based on similitude ratio in accordance with law of similitude due to time and financial constraints on real scale modeling experiments. Seismic resistance characteristics of each seismic waves were analyzed by assessing the variations measured through excitation of the excited acceleration of 0.05g, 0.1g, 0.15g, and 0.2g. The results of this study, it would be important to obtain reasonable and abundant data on ground properties and seismic design in preparation for earthquakes when assessing the safety of block type reinforced earth retaining wall confined to model experiment. Acquisition of those data and systematic analytical techniques are considered likely to have a significant effect on the decrease of structure damage caused by earthquakes in Korea which has recently witnessed frequent occurrence of earthquakes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.9
• /
• pp.3100-3111
• /
• 2021

Numerical modeling for the safety-related equipment used in a nuclear power plant (i.e., cabinet facilities) plays an essential role in seismic risk assessment. A full finite element model is often time-consuming for nonlinear time history analysis due to its computational modeling complexity. Thus, this study aims to generate a simplified model that can capture the nonlinear behavior of the electrical cabinet. Accordingly, the distributed plasticity approach was utilized to examine the stiffness-degradation effect caused by the local buckling of the structure. The inherent dynamic characteristics of the numerical model were validated against the experimental test. The outcomes indicate that the proposed model can adequately represent the significant behavior of the structure, and it is preferred in practice to perform the nonlinear analysis of the cabinet. Further investigations were carried out to evaluate the seismic behavior of the cabinet under the influence of the constitutive law of material models. Three available models in OpenSees (i.e., linear, bilinear, and Giuffre-Menegotto-Pinto (GMP) model) were considered to provide an enhanced understating of the seismic responses of the cabinet. It was found that the material nonlinearity, which is the function of its smoothness, is the most effective parameter for the structural analysis of the cabinet. Also, it showed that implementing nonlinear models reduces the seismic response of the cabinet considerably in comparison with the linear model.