• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.3068-3084
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• 2021

Investigations of large commercial aircraft impact effect on nuclear power plant (NPP) buildings have been drawing extensive attentions, particularly after the 9/11 event, and this paper aims to experimentally assess the damage and vibrations of NPP buildings subjected to aircraft crash. In present Part I, two shots of reduce-scaled model test of aircraft impacting on NPP building were carried out. Firstly, the 1:15 aircraft model (weighs 135 kg) and RC NPP model (weighs about 70 t) are designed and prepared. Then, based on the large rocket sled loading test platform, the aircraft models were accelerated to impact perpendicularly on the two sides of NPP model, i.e., containment and auxiliary buildings, with a velocity of about 170 m/s. The strain-time histories of rebars within the impact area and acceleration-time histories of each floor of NPP model are derived from the pre-arranged twenty-one strain gauges and twenty tri-axial accelerometers, and the whole impact processes were recorded by three high-speed cameras. The local penetration and perforation failure modes occurred respectively in the collision scenarios of containment and auxiliary buildings, and some suggestions for the NPP design are given. The maximum acceleration in the 1:15 scaled tests is 1785.73 g, and thus the corresponding maximum resultant acceleration in a prototype impact might be about 119 g, which poses a potential threat to the nuclear equipment. Furthermore, it was found that the nonlinear decrease of vibrations along the height was well reflected by the variations of both the maximum resultant vibrations and Cumulative Absolute Velocity (CAV). The present experimental work on the damage and dynamic responses of NPP structure under aircraft impact is firstly presented, which could provide a benchmark basis for further safety assessments of prototype NPP structure as well as inner systems and components against aircraft crash.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.293-303
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• 2012

Recently, as construction technology improved, concrete structures not only became larger, taller and longer but were able to perform various functions. However, if extreme loads such as impact, blast, and fire are applied to those structures, it would cause severe property damages and human casualties. Especially, the structural responses from extreme loading are totally different than that from quasi-static loading, because large pressure is applied to structures from mass acceleration effect of impact and blast loads. Therefore, the strain rate effect and damage levels should be considered when concrete structure is designed. In this study, the low velocity impact loading test of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) slabs including 0%~1.5% (by volume) of steel fibers, and strengthened with two types of FRP sheets was performed to develop an impact resistant structural member. From the test results, the maximum impact load, dissipated energy and the number of drop to failure increased, whereas the maximum displacement and support rotation were reduced by strengthening SFRC slab with FRP sheets in tensile zone. The test results showed that the impact resistance of concrete slab can be substantially improved by externally strengthening using FRP sheets. This result can be used in designing of primary facilities exposed to such extreme loads. The dynamic responses of SFRC slab strengthened with FRP sheets under low velocity impact load were also analyzed using LS-DYNA, a finite element analysis program with an explicit time integration scheme. The comparison of test and analytical results showed that they were within 5% of error with respect to maximum displacements.