SILER Project: Design of the Seismic Isolators

Author(s):  
Alessandro Poggianti ◽  
Massimo Forni ◽  
Barbara Ferrucci ◽  
Riccardo Scipinotti ◽  
Didier De Bruyn ◽  
...  

This paper describes the SILER (Seismic-Initiated event risk mitigation in LEad-cooled Reactors) Project results obtained so far in the design of the seismic isolation system of two nuclear power plants: the ELSY configuration for the LFR (Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor) design and the MYRRHA configuration for the accelerator-driven systems (ADS). The seismic protection of the nuclear buildings by means of seismic isolation has been chosen in order to minimize changes to the standard design of the civil works and internal components of the Nuclear Power Plant. The work led to the identification of the optimal design solution, in terms of type and location of seismic devices, to achieve compliance to the floor response acceleration spectra in horizontal and vertical direction, with levels of horizontal displacements not exceeding the maximum acceptable values for structural and non-structural elements. The isolators studied in the project are of the type elastomeric, both High Damping Rubber Bearings and Lead Rubber Bearings; moreover the adoption of a fail-safe system to limit the horizontal isolator deformation in case of beyond design earthquakes is studied.

Author(s):  
Satoshi Fujita ◽  
Keisuke Minagawa ◽  
Takeshi Kodaira

In Japan, applications of seismic isolation systems to new generation nuclear power plants and fast breeder reactors have been expected in order to enhance seismic safety. However there are lots of restrictions for design of isolation systems, such as strong design seismic wave, deformation of piping between an isolated structure and a non-isolated structure, and so on. In addition combination of horizontal and vertical isolation has possibility to cause rocking motion if a three-dimensional isolation system is applied. Therefore isolation systems should be designed properly. Moreover the design of seismic isolation system has to consider influence on inner equipment and piping. This paper describes investigation regarding required properties and performance of seismic isolation system for nuclear power plants. The investigation is carried out by numerical analysis. In the analysis, various isolation devices such as friction pendulum bearings and so on are applied as well as natural rubber bearings.


Author(s):  
Alexandre Borsoi ◽  
Satoshi Fujita ◽  
Keisuke Minagawa

In Japan, the application of seismic isolation systems using rubber bearings to industrial structure and new generation Nuclear Power Plants have been considered in order to enhance seismic safety. However, the isolation performance will decline in case of huge earthquakes, because of the nonlinearity of both horizontal and vertical restoring characteristics of the rubber bearings. The horizontal restoring force has a hardening characteristic and the vertical restoring force has a softening characteristic. In addition, the horizontal nonlinearity depends on vertical load, so the interaction between the horizontal and vertical response is important. Consequently, in this paper, the analysis of the nonlinearity of the rubber bearings and the coupling between those two directions will be carried out. Then, after comparing these two approaches, the utility of considering this dependency will be estimated. To do so, a simulation program, based on the Runge-Kutta-Gill’s method has been developed in order to evaluate the seismic response of the isolated structure composed of rubber bearings and oil dampers. The nonlinearity of the rubber bearings is considered, and the coupling of the vertical load and the horizontal hardening has been implemented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1238-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gangling Hou ◽  
Meng Li ◽  
Sun Hai ◽  
Tianshu Song ◽  
Lingshu Wu ◽  
...  

Purpose Seismic isolation, as an effective risk mitigation strategy of building/bridge structures, is incorporated into AP1000 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to alleviate the seismic damage that may occur to traditional structures of NPPs during their service. This is to promote the passive safety concept in the structural design of AP1000 NPPs against earthquakes. Design/methodology/approach In conjunction with seismic isolation, tuned-mass-damping (TMD) is integrated into the seismic resistance system of AP1000 NPPs to satisfy the multi-functional purposes. The proposed base-isolation-tuned-mass-damper (BIS-TMD) is studied by comparing the seismic performance of NPPs with four different design configurations (i.e. without BIS, BIS, BIS-TMD and TMD) with the design parameters of the TMD subsystem optimized. Findings Such a new seismic protection system (BIS-TMD) is proved to be promising because the advantages of BIS and TMD can be fully used. The benefits of the new structure include effective energy dissipation (i.e. wide vibration absorption band and a stable damping effect), which results in the high performance of NPPs subject to earthquakes with various intensity levels and spectra features. Originality/value Parametric studies are performed to demonstrate the seismic robustness (e.g. consistent performance against the changing mass of the water in the gravity liquid tank and mechanical properties) which further ensures that seismic safety requirements of NPPs can be satisfied through the use of BIS-TMD.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (0) ◽  
pp. _433-1_-_433-6_
Author(s):  
Kenji TAKAHASHI ◽  
Asao KATOH ◽  
Masaki MORISHITA ◽  
Minoru Fushimi ◽  
Takafumi FUJITA ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiguang Zhou ◽  
Xiaodong Wei

One important aspect of applying seismic isolation to Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) is that the complex interactions of flexible soil, flexible isolators, and stiff structures require careful investigation. In this paper, a NPP model was used to investigate the effects of SSI and the effects of changing soil and isolator properties on seismic response of an isolated NPP. The following aspects are considered in the study: horizontal excitation and vertical excitation; linear and equivalent-linear models of the isolators; scaling of the shear modulus of the soil profile model; and scaling of the horizontal equivalent stiffness of the isolators. It was found that Pseudospectral Acceleration (PSA) in the nuclear structure at the frequencies near the natural frequency of the structure increase with elevation, and the difference between the in-structure response spectral acceleration with and without SSI effects is concentrated at the frequencies near the natural frequencies of the superstructure. It is also found that the linear SSI analysis underestimates the in-structure response of the nuclear structures compared to the equivalent-linear SSI analyses, and the soil profile properties directly affect the effectiveness of the isolation system.


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