• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.83-91
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• 2022

Seismic design and analysis of nuclear power plant components are performed based on an decoupled model. However, this decoupled analysis has a limitation in that it generates inaccurate results compared to the coupled analysis because it cannot simulate actual phenomena such as the interaction between structures and components. Thus, this study performed seismic coupled and decoupled analysis on an existing nuclear containment structure and related components, considering the mass and natural frequency ratios. And based on these results, comparative analyses of responses of components were conducted. Consequently, the seismic coupled analysis result generally gave a smaller value than the decoupled analysis result. These results were similar to the analysis results for the simple coupled model, which was an existing study, but the difference in component responses was much more pronounced. Also, this was influenced by the installation location of the component rather than the influence of the input frequency of the input seismic motions. Finally, the difference between the decoupled and coupled seismic analysis occurred in the region where the mass ratio of the components was large, and the natural frequencies were almost similar due to the considerable dynamic interaction between the structure and the component in this realm.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.485-496
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• 2013

In recent years, frequent terror or military attacks by explosion or impact accidents have occurred. Examplary case of these attacks were World Trade Center collapse and US Department of Defense Pentagon attack on Sept. 11 of 2001. These attacks of the civil infrastructure have induced numerous casualties and property damage, which raised public concerns and anxiety of potential terrorist attacks. However, a existing design procedure for civil infrastructures do not consider a protective design for extreme loading scenario. Also, the extreme loading researches of prestressed concrete (PSC) member, which widely used for nuclear containment vessel, gas tank, bridges, and tunnel, are insufficient due to experimental limitations of loading characteristics. To protect concrete structures against extreme loading such as explosion and impact with high strain rate, understanding of the effect, characteristic, and propagation mechanism of extreme loadings on structures is needed. Therefore, in this paper, to evaluate the impact resistance capacity and its protective performance of bi-directional unbonded prestressed concrete member, impact tests were carried out on $1400mm{\times}1000mm{\times}300mm$ for reinforced concrete (RC), prestressed concrete without rebar (PS), prestressed concrete with rebar (PSR, general PSC) specimens. According to test site conditions, impact tests were performed with 14 kN impactor with drop height of 10 m, 5 m, 4 m for preliminary tests and 3.5 m for main tests. Also, in this study, the procedure, layout, and measurement system of impact tests were established. The impact resistance capacity was measured using crack patterns, damage rates, measuring value such as displacement, acceleration, and residual structural strength. The results can be used as basic research references for related research areas, which include protective design and impact numerical simulation under impact loading.