• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.605-618
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• 2014

The effects of variability of the mechanical properties of lead rubber bearings on the response of a seismic isolation system are investigated. Material variability in manufacturing, aging, and operation temperature is assumed, and two variation models of an isolation system are considered. To evaluate the effect of ground motion characteristics on the response, 27 earthquake record sets with different peak A/V ratios were selected, and three components of ground motions were used for a seismic response analysis. The response in an isolation system and a superstructure increases significantly for ground motions with low A/V ratios. The variation in the mechanical properties of isolators results in a significant influence on the shear strains of the isolators and the acceleration response of the superstructure. The variation provisions in the ASCE-4 are reasonable, but more strict variation limits should be given to isolation systems subjected to ground motions having low A/V ratios. For application of seismic isolation systems to safety-related nuclear structures, the variation in the material and mechanical properties of the isolation system should be properly controlled during the manufacturing and aging processes. In addition, special consideration should be given to minimize the accidental torsion caused by the dissimilarity in the stiffness variations of the isolators.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.119-130
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• 2017

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the seismic behavior of isolated bridges with supplemental viscous damping. Usually very large displacements make seismic isolation an unfeasible solution due to boundary conditions, especially in case of existing bridges or high risk seismic regions. First, a suggested optimal design procedure is introduced, then seismic performance of three real bridges with different isolation systems and damping levels is investigated. Each bridge is studied in four different configurations: simply supported (SSB), isolated with 10% damping (IB), isolated with 30% damping (LRB) and isolated with optimal supplemental damping ratio (IDB). Two of the case studies are investigated under spectrum compatible far-field ground motions, while the third one is subjected to near-fault strong motions. With respect to different design strategies proposed by other authors, results of the analysis demonstrated that an isolated bridge equipped with HDLRBs and a total equivalent damping ratio of 70% represents a very effective design solution. Thanks to confirmed effective performance in terms of base shear mitigation and displacement reduction under both far field and near fault ground motions, as well as for both simply supported and continuous bridges, the suggested control system provides robustness and reliability in terms of seismic performance also resulting cost effective.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.386-400
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• 2022

Seismic fragility analysis, a part of seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA), is commonly used to establish the relationship between a representative property of earthquakes and the failure probability of a structure, component, or system. Current guidelines on the SPRA of nuclear power plants (NPPs) used worldwide mainly reflect the earthquake characteristics of the western United States. However, different earthquake characteristics may have a significant impact on the seismic fragility of a structure. Given the concern, this study aimed to investigate the effects of earthquake characteristics on the seismic fragility of concrete containments housing the OPR-1000 reactor. Earthquake time histories were created from 30 ground motions (including those of the 2016 Gyeongju earthquake) by spectral matching to the site-specific response spectrum of Hanbit nuclear power plants in South Korea. Fragility curves of the containment structure were determined under the linear response history analysis using a lumped-mass stick model and 30 ground motions, and were compared in terms of earthquake characteristics. The results showed that the median capacity and high confidence of low probability of failure (HCLPF) tended to highly depend on the sustained maximum acceleration (SMA), and increase when using the time histories which have lower SMA compared with the others.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2018

The Pohang earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 occurred on November 15, 2018. The epicenter of this earthquake located in south-east region of the Korean peninsula. Since instrumental recording for earthquake ground motions started in Korea, this earthquake caused the largest economic and life losses among past earthquakes. Korea is located in low-to moderate seismic region, so that strong motion records are very limited. Therefore, ground motions recorded during the Pohang earthquake could have valuable geological and seismological information, which are important inputs for seismic design. In this study, ground motions associated by the 2018 Pohang earthquake are generated using the point source model considering domestic geological parameters (magnitude, hypocentral distance, distance-frequency dependent decay parameter, stress drop) and site amplification calculated from ground motion data at each stations. A contour map for peak ground acceleration is constructed for ground motions generated by the Pohang earthquake using the proposed model.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.484-491
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• 2004

In this study, the effect of the Near Fault Ground Motion which hasn't been considered at the domestic seismic design is demonstrated through the seismic response analysis of suspension bridge. After selecting the typical Near and Far Fault Ground Motion, the response characteristics are analysed by conducting the seismic response analysis about the long period suspension bridge which is expected to suffer the effect of Near Fault Ground Motions more largely. According to the results of this study, the Near Fault Ground Motions affect the suspension bridge more considerably than the Far Fault Ground Motions.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.479-486
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• 2003

The characteristics of harmonic phase angles and phase angle differences contained in earthquake ground motions such as El Centre 1940 NS, Taft1 1952 NS, Hachinohe 1968 NS and Mexico 1985 are figured, which have been mostly overlooked in contrast with the importance placed on harmonic amplitudes. Recently, performance based design method is used for seismic design and seismic retrofitting, which needs nonlinear response analysis, there must be earthquake ground accelerations which contain the phase angle, the phase angle difference and energy input spectrum characteristics of the zone considered to be constructed building structures. To make clear the importance of phase angle differences, responses of 4 recorded earthquake ground motions, 4-earthquake ground motions normalized by 110 gal and 4 artificial earthquake motions compatible to the seismic building code of Korea are compared.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.341-349
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• 2016

Currently, researches are being actively conducted in assessing seismic performance of nuclear facilities in USA and Europe. In particular, applying this technique of assessing seismic performance to design of isolation systems in nuclear power plants is being performed and then ASCE 4 Draft (2013) is being revised accordingly in the United States. In order to satisfy the probabilistic performance objectives described by seismic responses with certain confidence levels (ASCE 43, 2005), the probability distributions of these responses have to be defined. What is the minimum number of input ground-motions to obtain the probability distribution precise enough to represent the unknown actual distribution? Theoretical basis, for how to determine the minimum number of input ground-motions for given a logarithmic standard deviation to approximate the unknown actual median of the log-normal distribution within a range of error at a certain level of confidence, is introduced by Huang et al. (2008). However, the relationship between the level of confidence and the range of error is not stated in the previous study. In this paper, based on careful reviews on the previous work, the relationship between the level of confidence and the range of error is logically and explicitly stated. Furthermore, this relationship is also applied to derive the minimum number of input ground-motions in order to approximate the unknown actual logarithmic standard deviation. Several recommendations are made for determining the minimum number of input ground-motions in probabilistic assessment on seismic performance of facilities in nuclear power plants.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.247-258
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• 2017

Beam-like structures such as bridge, high building and tower, pipes, flexible connecting rods and some robotic manipulators are often excited by support motions. These structures are important in machines and structures. So, this study proposes an analytic method to accurately predict the dynamic behaviors of the structures during support motions or an earthquake. Using Timoshenko beam theory which is valid even for non-slender beams and for high-frequency responses, the analytic responses of fixed-fixed beams subjected to a real seismic motions at supports are illustrated to show the principled approach to the proposed method. The responses of a slender beam obtained by using Timoshenko beam theory are compared with the solutions based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory to validate the correctness of the proposed method. The dynamic analysis for the fixed-fixed beam subjected to support motions gives useful information to develop an understanding of the structural behavior of the beam. The bending moment and the shear force of a slender beam are governed by dynamic components while those of a stocky beam are governed by static components. Especially, the maximal magnitudes of the bending moment and the shear force of the thick beam are proportional to the difference of support displacements and they are influenced by the seismic wave velocity.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.376-383
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• 2003

For more rational and economical seismic design of long span bridges, it is essential to include in the analysis the effects of multiple input motions and structural or soil nonlinearity which are not considered in the current design practice. In this paper, the effects of these factors on the seismic behavior of long span bridges are studied. First, for the effect of multiple input motions, we take into account the differences in arrival times of seismic waves. To consider nonlinear soil properties we utilize SHAKE which is based on the equivalent linearization method. As a numerical example, a cable-stayed bridge is modelled using the analytical procedures described above. It is shown from the results that the these factors influence the seismic response of the bridge significantly and should never be neglected in design.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.149-157
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the significant duration of ground motions on responses of base-isolated nuclear power plants (NPPs). Two sets of ground motion records with short duration (SD) and long duration (LD) motions, scaled to match the target response spectrum, are used to perform time-history analyses. The reactor containment building in the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) NPP is numerically modeled using lumped-mass stick elements in SAP2000. Seismic responses of the base-isolated NPP are monitored in forms of lateral displacements, shear forces, floor response spectra of the containment building, and hysteretic energy of the lead rubber bearing (LRB). Fragility curves for different limit states, which are defined based on the shear deformation of the base isolator, are developed. The numerical results reveal that the average seismic responses of base-isolated NPP under SD and LD motion sets were shown to be mostly identical. For PGA larger than 0.4g, the mean deformation of LRB for LD motions was bigger than that for SD ones due to a higher hysteretic energy of LRB produced in LD shakings. Under LD motions, median parameters of fragility functions for three limit states were reduced by 12% to 15% compared to that due to SD motions. This clearly indicates that it is important to select ground motions with both SD and LD proportionally in the seismic evaluation of NPP structures.