• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 1990

An analytical procedure is proposed for the seismic analysis of a soil-structure interaction system with besemat uplift, including the effects of concurrent vertical seismic ground motion, nonlinear distribution of bearing soil pressure under the basemat, and 3-dimensional behavior of the system. The soil-structure interaction system is assumed to have rectangular-shaped basemat on elastic half-space. Nonlinearity of soil spring constants and soil damping coefficients induced by the base mat uplift is modeled by considering not only the reduction of contact area between soil and structure but also the effects of rigid body rotational motion of the superstructure, and the shift in the point of action of the resultant reaction on the basemat. Throught various parametric studies. it has been confirmed that the seismic responses of the superstructure reduce notably while response at the basemat increases considerably. The results also show that the effects of concurrent vertical ground motion. nonlinear soil pressure distribution under basemat, and 3-dimensional behavior of the system shall be included in uplift analysis in order to obtain the correct structural responses.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.639-646
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• 2006

A nonlinear finite element analysis is carried out to predict the ultimate internal pressure and failure mechanism of a 1/4 scale prestressed concrete containment vessel(PCCV) model using the commercial code ABAQUS. Therefore, this paper is mainly focused to compare the influence of concrete material model, tension stiffening parameter, uplift phenomenon and basemat. From the analysis results, nonlinear behavior of the PCCV showed a substantially different aspects in accordance with the nonlinear material model for the concrete as well as tension stiffening parameter. The boundary conditions beneath the basemat are considered to be a fixed condition and a nonlinear spring element to compare the influence of the uplift. The finite element analysis is considered with and without a basemat to find out the influence of the basemant itself. From the analysis results, the nonlinear behavior of the PCCV is entirely similar for the two cases.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.301-308
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• 2004

The present study mainly focuses on the inelastic stress analysis of the 1/4 scale prestressed concrete containment vessel model(PCCV) under internal pressure and evaluates not only failure mode but also ultimate pressure capacity of the PCCV. Inelastic analysis is carried out 2D axisymmertic FE model and 3D FE model using four concrete material models which are Drucker-Prager Model, Chen-Chen Model, Damaged Plasticity Model and Menetrey-Willam Model. The uplift phenomenon of the basemat is considered in the 2D axisymmetric FE models. It is found from the 2D axisymmetric analysis results that both of Drucker-Prager model and Damaged Plasticity Model have a good performance and the uplift of the basemat is too small to influence on the global behavior of the PCCV. The FE analysis results on the ultimate pressure and failure mode have a good agreement with experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.431-431
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• 1999

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.448-456
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• 2016

Severe accident scenarios in nuclear reactors, such as nuclear meltdown, reveal that an extremely hot molten core may fall into the nuclear reactor cavity and seriously affect the safety of the nuclear containment vessel due to the chain reaction caused by the reaction between the molten core and concrete. This paper reports on research focused on the type and amount of vapor produced during the reaction between a high-temperature molten core and concrete, as well as on the erosion rate of concrete and the heat transfer characteristics at its vicinity. This study identifies themass fraction and melting temperature as the most influential properties of concrete necessary for a safety analysis conducted in relation to the thermal interaction between the molten core and the basemat concrete. The types of concrete that are actually used in nuclear reactor cavities were investigated. The $H_2O$ content in concrete required for the computation of the relative amount of gases generated by the chemical reaction of the vapor, the quantity of $CO_2$ necessary for computing the cooling speed of the molten core, and the melting temperature of concrete are evaluated experimentally for the molten core-concrete interaction analysis.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.97-104
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• 2000

Evaluating a Review-Level Ground Motion is a key to efficiently perform Seismic Margin Assessment of nuclear power plants whose purpose is to determine a ground motion level for which a plant has high-confidence-of-a-low-probability of seismic-induced core damage and to identify any weaker-link components. In this study a method to obtain RLGMs is reviewed which is recommended by Electric Power Research Institute and implemented to be applied to Limerick site in eastern and central U. S as a case study. This method provides reasonable and site-specific RLGMs as minimum required plant HCLPF for SMA that meet a target mean seismic core-damage frequency based on seismic hazard results and generic values of uncertainty and randomness parameters of the core-damage fragility curves. In addition high-frequency RLGM is justifiably modified to reflect the increased seismic capacity of high-frequency components and spatial variation and incoherence of input ground motion on a basemat of large structures by establishing a method to obtain high0-frequency reduction factors according to EPRI guidelines.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2018

Base-isolated nuclear power plant (BI-NPP) structures are founded on expanded basemat as a flexible floating nuclear island, are still lacking the recommendation of the consideration of incoherent motion effect. The effect of incoherent earthquake motion on the seismic response of BI-NPP structure has been investigated herein. The incoherency of the ground motions is applied by using an isotropic frequency-dependent spatial correlation function to perform the conditional simulation of the reference design spectrum compatible ground motion in time domain. Time history analysis of two structural models with 486 and 5 equivalent lead plug rubber bearing (LRB) base-isolators have been done under uniform excitation and multiple point excitation. two different cases have been considered: 1) Incoherent motion generated for soft soil and 2) Incoherent motion generated for hard rock soil. The results show that the incoherent motions reduce acceleration and the lateral displacement responses and the reduction is noticeable at soft soil site and higher frequencies.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.261-272
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• 2012

Molten Core Concrete Interaction (MCCI) is a complex process characterized by concrete ablation and volatile generation; Thermal and solutal convection in a bubble-agitated melt; Physico-chemical evolution of the corium pool with a wide solidification range (of the order of 1000 K). Twelve experiments have been carried out in the VULCANO facility with prototypic corium and sustained heating. The dry oxidic corium tests have contributed to show that silica-rich concrete experience an anisotropic ablation. This unexpected ablation pattern is quite reproducible and can be recalculated, provided an empirical anisotropy factor is assumed. Dry tests with oxide and metal liquid phases have also yielded unexpected results: a larger than expected steel oxidation and unexpected topology of the metallic phase (at the bottom of the cavity and also on the vertical concrete walls). Finally, VULCANO has proved its interest for the study of mitigation solutions such as the COMET bottom flooding core catcher.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.336-347
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• 1997

During postulated severe accidents in Light water Reactors, molten corium which was ejected from the reactor vessel bottom, may erode the concrete basemat of the containment and there by threaten the containment integrity. This study experimentally examines the molten core-concrete interaction (MCC) using 20kg of thermite melt (Fe + $Al_2$O$_3$) and the concrete, used in Yonggwang Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 (YGN 3 & 4) in Korea. The measured data are the downward heat fluxes, concrete erosion rate, gases and particle generation rates during MCCI. Transient results ore compared with those of TURCIT experiment conducted by SNL in USA. The peak downward heat flux to the concrete was measured to be about 2.1㎿/$m^2$. The initial concrete erosion rate was 175cm per hour, decreasing to 30cm per hour. It was shown from the post-test that the erosion was progressed downward up to 18mm in the concrete slug.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.03b
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• pp.268-271
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• 2008

If a reactor vessel is failed to retain a molten corium in a postulated severe accident, the molten corium is released outside the reactor vessel into a reactor cavity. The molten corium would attack the concrete wall and basemat of the reactor cavity, which may lead to inevitable concrete decompositions and possible radiological releases. In the OECD/MCCI project, a series of tests were performed to secure the data for cooling the molten corium spread out at the reactor cavity and for the long-term CCI (Core Concrete Interaction). Also, a MCCI (Molten Core Concrete Interaction) analysis code, CORQUENCH was upgraded at Argonne National Laboratory with embedding the new models developed for the tests. This paper deals with analyses of MCCI at plant scale under the conditions of top flooding using the upgraded CORQUENCH code. The modeling approach is briefly summarized first, followed by presentation of a validation calculation that illustrates the predicative capability of the modeling tool. With this background in place, the model is then used to carry out a parametric set of scoping calculations that define approximate coolability envelopes for the LCS (Limestone Common Sand) concrete that has been evaluated in the OECD/MCCI project.