• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.1387-1401
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• 2018

An aircraft impact (AI) on a nuclear power plant (NPP) is considered to be a beyond-design-basis event that draws considerable attention in the nuclear field. As some NPPs have already adopted the seismic isolation technology, and there are relevant standards to guide the application of this technology in future NPPs, a new challenge is that nuclear power engineers have to determine a reasonable method for performing AI analysis of base-isolated NPPs. Hence, dynamic influences of the seismic isolation on the vibration and structural damage characteristics of the base-isolated CPR1000 containment are studied under various aircraft loads. Unlike the seismic case, the impact energy of AI is directly impacting on the superstructure. Under the coupled influence of the seismic isolation and the various AI load, the flexible isolation layer weakens the constraint function of the foundation on the superstructure, the results show that the seismic isolation bearings will produce a large horizontal deformation if the AI load is large enough, the acceleration response at the base-mat will also be significantly affected by the different horizontal stiffness of the isolation bearing. These concerns require consideration during the design of the seismic isolation system.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.133-143
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• 2015

It is very important to assure the seismic performance of equipment as well as building structures in seismic design of nuclear power plant(NPP). Seismically isolated structures may be reviewed mainly on the horizontal seismic responses. Considering the equipment installed in the NPP, the vertical earthquake responses of the structure also should be reviewed. This study has investigated the vertical seismic demand of seismically isolated structure by lead rubber bearings(LRBs). For the numerical evaluation of seismic demand of the base isolated NPP, the Korean standard nuclear power plant (APR1400) is modeled as 4 different models, which are supported by LRBs to have 4 different horizontal target periods. Two real earthquake records and artificially generated input motions have been used as inputs for earthquake analyses. For the study, the vertical floor response spectra(FRS) were generated at the major points of the structure. As a results, the vertical seismic responses of horizontally isolated structure have largely increased due to flexibility of elastomeric isolator. The vertical stiffness of the bearings are more carefully considered in the seismic design of the base-isolated NPPs which have the various equipment inside.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.355-362
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• 2016

In order to secure the stability against strong earthquakes, isolation devices on the existing nuclear power plant have been introduced. By applying the isolation device on structures, it is possible to isolate structures from the ground motion. Therefore, the natural frequencies of the structures become longer, and the responses of the structures due to the ground motion decrease. Especially, when designing the nuclear power plant, it is important to ensure the safety of internal devices as well as the nuclear power plant itself. The floor response spectrum is commonly used in designing the internal devices. In this research, floor response spectrum is evaluated and the effect of second hardening behavior is investigated by performing earthquake analysis.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.561-572
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• 2019

In the design criterion for the nuclear power plant piping system, the limit state of the piping against an earthquake is assumed to be plastic collapse. The failure of a common piping system, however, means the leakage caused by the cracks. Therefore, for the seismic fragility analysis of a nuclear power plant, a method capable of quantitatively expressing the failure of an actual piping system is required. In this study, it was conducted to propose a quantitative failure criterion for piping system, which is required for the seismic fragility analysis of nuclear power plants against critical accidents. The in-plane cyclic loading test was conducted to propose a quantitative failure criterion for steel pipe elbows in the nuclear power plant piping system. Nonlinear analysis was conducted using a finite element model, and the results were compared with the test results to verify the effectiveness of the finite element model. The collapse load point derived from the experiment and analysis results and the damage index based on the stress-strain relationship were defined as failure criteria, and seismic fragility analysis was conducted for the piping system of the BNL (Brookhaven National Laboratory) - NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) benchmark model.

• 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.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.245-255
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• 2013

According to natural frequency of soil, characteristics of earthquake responses of an isolated containment building in nuclear power plants are examined. For this, earthquake response analysis of seismically isolated containment buildings in nuclear power plants is carried out by strictly considering soil-structure interactions. The structure and near-field soil are modeled by the finite element method while far-field soil by consistent transmitting boundary. The equation of motion of a soil-structure interaction system under incident seismic wave is derived. The derived equations of motion are solved to carry out earthquake analysis of a seismically isolated soil-structure system. Generally, the results of this analysis show that seismic isolation significantly reduces the responses of the soil-structure system. However, if the natural frequency of the soil is similar to that of the soil-structure system, the responses of the containment buildings in nuclear power plants rather increases due to interactions in the system.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.379-389
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• 2016

This study intends to evaluate the conservativeness of the fixed-base analysis as compared to the soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis for the seismically isolated model of a nuclear power plant in Korea. To that goal, the boundary reaction method (BRM), combining frequency-domain and time-domain analyses in a twofold process, is adopted for the SSI analysis considering the nonlinearity of the seismic base isolation. The program KIESSI-3D is used for computing the reaction forces in the frequency domain and the program MIDAS/Civil is applied for the nonlinear time-domain analysis. The BRM numerical model is verified by comparing the results of the frequency-domain analysis and time-domain analysis for the soil-structure system with an equivalent linear base isolation model. Moreover, the displacement response of the base isolation and the horizontal response at the top of the structure obtained by the nonlinear SSI analysis using BRM are compared with those obtained by the fixed-base analysis. The comparison reveals that the fixed-base analysis provides conservative peak deformation for the base isolation but is not particularly conservative in term of the floor response spectrum of the superstructure.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.291-299
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• 2014

There has been an increasing demand for introducing a base isolation system to secure the seismic safety of a nuclear power plant. However, the design criteria and the safety assessment methodology of a base isolated nuclear facility are still being developed. A performance based design concept for the base isolation system needs to be added to the general seismic design procedures. For the base isolation system, the displacement responses of isolators excited by the extended design basis earthquake are important as well as the design displacement. The possible displacement response by the extended design basis earthquake should be limited less than the failure displacement of the isolator. The failure of isolators were investigated by an experimental test to define the ultimate strain level of rubber bearings. The uncertainty analysis, considering the variations of the mechanical properties of isolators and input ground motions, was performed to estimate the probabilistic distribution of the isolator displacement. The relationship of the displacement response by each ground motion level was compared in view of a period elongation and a reduction of damping. Finally, several examples of isolator parameters are calculated and the considerations for an acceptable isolation design is discussed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2013

Several researches have been studied to enhance the seismic performance of nuclear power plants (NPPs) by application of seismic isolation. If a seismic base isolation system is applied to NPPs, seismic performance of nuclear power plants should be reevaluated considering the soil-structure interaction effect. The seismic fragility analysis method has been used as a quantitative seismic safety evaluation method for the NPP structures and equipment. In this study, the seismic performance of an isolated NPP is evaluated by seismic fragility curves considering the soil-structure interaction effect. The designed seismic isolation is introduced to a containment building of Shin-Kori NPP which is KSNP (Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant), to improve its seismic performance. The seismic analysis is performed considering the soil-structure interaction effect by using the linearized model of seismic isolation with SASSI (System for Analysis of Soil-Structure Interaction) program. Finally, the seismic fragility is evaluated based on soil-isolation-structure interaction analysis results.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2015

Base isolation is considered as a seismic protective system in the design of next generation Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). If seismic isolation devices are installed in nuclear power plants then the safety under a seismic load of the power plant may be improved. However, with respect to some equipment, seismic risk may increase because displacement may become greater than before the installation of a seismic isolation device. Therefore, it is estimated to be necessary to select equipment in which the seismic risk increases due to an increase in the displacement by the installation of a seismic isolation device, and to perform research on the seismic performance of each piece of equipment. In this study, modified NRC-BNL benchmark models were used for seismic analysis. The numerical models include representations of isolation devices. In order to validate the numerical piping system model and to define the failure mode, a quasi-static loading test was conducted on the piping components before the analysis procedures. The fragility analysis was performed by using the results of the inelastic seismic response analysis. Inelastic seismic response analysis was carried out by using the shell finite element model of a piping system considering internal pressure. The implicit method was used for the direct integration time history analysis. In addition, the collapse load point was used for the failure mode for the fragility analysis.