Efficient Intensity Measures for Probabilistic Seismic Response Analysis of Anchored Above-Ground Liquid Steel Storage Tanks

Author(s):  
Hoang Nam Phan ◽  
Fabrizio Paolacci

Liquid storage tanks are vital lifeline structures and have been widely used in industries and nuclear power plants. In performance-based earthquake engineering, the assessment of probabilistic seismic risk of structural components at a site is significantly affected by the choice of ground motion intensity measures (IMs). However, at present there is no specific widely accepted procedure to evaluate the efficiency of IMs used in assessing the seismic performance of steel storage tanks. The study presented herein concerns the probabilistic seismic analysis of anchored above-ground steel storage tanks subjected to several sets of ground motion records. The engineering demand parameters for the analysis are the compressive meridional stress in the tank wall and the sloshing wave height of the liquid free surface. The efficiency and sufficiency of each alternative IM are quantified by results of time history analyses for the structural response and a proper regression analysis. According to the comparative study results, this paper proposes the most efficient and sufficient IMs with respect to the above demand parameters for a portfolio of anchored steel storage tanks.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Liang ◽  
Pan Rong ◽  
Ren Guopeng ◽  
Zhu Xiuyun

Abstract Almost all nuclear power plants in the world are equipped with seismic instrument system, especially the third generation nuclear power plants in China. When the ground motion measured by four time history accelerometers of containment foundation exceeds the preset threshold, the automatic shutdown trigger signal will be generated. However, from the seismic acceleration characteristics, isolated and prominent single high frequency will be generated the acceleration peak, which has no decisive effect on the seismic response, may cause false alarm, which has a certain impact on the smooth operation of nuclear power plant. According to the principle of three elements of ground motion, this paper puts forward a method that first selects the filtering frequency band which accords with the structural characteristics of nuclear power plants, then synthesizes the three axial acceleration time history, and finally selects the appropriate acceleration peak value for threshold alarm. The results show that the seismic acceleration results obtained by this method can well represent the actual magnitude of acceleration, and can solve the problem of false alarm due to the randomness of single seismic wave, and can be used for automatic reactor shutdown trigger signal of seismic acceleration.


2013 ◽  
Vol 284-287 ◽  
pp. 1247-1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlastislav Salajka ◽  
Petr Hradil ◽  
Jiri Kala

The paper deals with the seismic analysis of safety related structures of an operating nuclear power plant. At present time the nuclear power plants of VVER-400/213 type operate for over thirty years and there are arising requirements to verify the actual state of structures in order to assess their residual life in general. A sophisticated computation model has been developed for the seismic structural analysis using the ANSYS program package. The model involves the complex of all constrained structures of two main production blocks with equipment. In order to get a general view at the seismic load effects, seismic response analysis has been performed using direct integration of equations of motion in 25 sec interval at 0.01 sec step with excitation described by accelerograms. Combinations of dead loads and seismic loads have been considered in the stress assessment of the structures. The results of the performed analyses form a base for residual life prediction of selected structures


2013 ◽  
Vol 353-356 ◽  
pp. 2084-2091
Author(s):  
Gui Zhen Wang ◽  
Ying Min Li ◽  
Zhi Peng Lu

Developing an analysis program and simulating the radiation damping effect in the infinite foundation and inputs ground motion rationally. The static and dynamic analysis of an intake tunnel for a nuclear power plant is performed with ANSYS based on some 2-D finite element models considering of structure-foundation interaction by Time-History Analysis. Aiming at different programs of two linings in tunnel, the stress and internal force distribution of the tunnel , the wall rocks and the lining is researched and analyzed, and the diagram of stress and internal force is drawn. The regularity obtained can provide the basis for the seismic response analysis and design of tunnels.


Author(s):  
Aidin Tamhidi ◽  
Nicolas Kuehn ◽  
S. Farid Ghahari ◽  
Arthur J. Rodgers ◽  
Monica D. Kohler ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Ground-motion time series are essential input data in seismic analysis and performance assessment of the built environment. Because instruments to record free-field ground motions are generally sparse, methods are needed to estimate motions at locations with no available ground-motion recording instrumentation. In this study, given a set of observed motions, ground-motion time series at target sites are constructed using a Gaussian process regression (GPR) approach, which treats the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier spectrum as random Gaussian variables. Model training, verification, and applicability studies are carried out using the physics-based simulated ground motions of the 1906 Mw 7.9 San Francisco earthquake and Mw 7.0 Hayward fault scenario earthquake in northern California. The method’s performance is further evaluated using the 2019 Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake ground motions recorded by the Community Seismic Network stations located in southern California. These evaluations indicate that the trained GPR model is able to adequately estimate the ground-motion time series for frequency ranges that are pertinent for most earthquake engineering applications. The trained GPR model exhibits proper performance in predicting the long-period content of the ground motions as well as directivity pulses.


Author(s):  
Y. Yan ◽  
A. Laskar ◽  
Z. Cheng ◽  
F. Menq ◽  
Y. Tang ◽  
...  

The concept of periodic materials, based on solid state physics theory, is applied to earthquake engineering. The periodic material is a material which possesses distinct characteristics that do not allow waves with certain frequencies to be transmitted through; therefore, this material can be used in structural foundations to block unwanted seismic waves with certain frequencies. The frequency band of periodic material that can filter out waves is called the band gap, and the structural foundation made of periodic material is referred to as the periodic foundation. In designing a periodic foundation, the first step is to match band gaps of the periodic foundation with the natural frequencies of the superstructure. This is an iterative process. Starting with a design of the periodic foundation, the band gaps are identified by performing finite element analyses using ABAQUS. This design process is repeated until the band gaps match natural frequencies of the superstructure, and the field tests of a scaled specimen are conducted to validate the design. This is an on-going research project. Presented in this paper are the preliminary results, which show that the three dimensional periodic foundation is a promising and effective way to mitigate structural damage caused by earthquake excitations.


Author(s):  
Abhinav Gupta ◽  
Ankit Dubey ◽  
Sunggook Cho

Abstract Nuclear industry spends enormous time and resources on designing and managing piping nozzles in a plant. Nozzle locations are considered as a potential location for possible failure that can lead to loss of coolant accident. Industry spends enormous time in condition monitoring and margin management at nozzle locations. Margins against seismic loads play a significant role in the overall margin management. Available margins against thermal loads are highly dependent upon seismic margins. In recent years, significant international collaboration has been undertaken to study the seismic margin in piping systems and nozzles through experimental and analytical studies. It has been observed that piping nozzles are highly overdesigned and the margins against seismic loads are quite high. While this brings a perspective of sufficient safety, such excessively high margins compete with available margins against thermal loads particularly during the life extension and subsequent license renewal studies being conducted by many plants around the world. This paper focuses on identifying and illustrating two key reasons that lead to excessively conservative estimates of nozzle fragilities. First, it compares fragilities based on conventional seismic analysis that ignores piping-equipment-structure interaction on nozzle fragility with the corresponding assessment by considering such interactions. Then, it presents a case that the uncertainties considered in various parameters for calculating nozzle fragility are excessively high. The paper identifies a need to study the various uncertainties in order to achieve a more realistic quantification based on recent developments in our understanding of the seismic behavior of piping systems.


Author(s):  
Jong-Sung Kim ◽  
Suk-Hyun Lee ◽  
Hyeong Do Kweon

In this study, effect of analysis variables on structural integrity of nuclear piping under beyond design basis earthquake was investigated via performing dynamic time history seismic analysis. A finite element model of the piping system such as shut-down cooling line was developed combining solid and beam elements. Dynamic time history analysis was performed via finite element elastic plastic stress analysis. Validity of the dynamic time history analysis procedure was verified via comparing with the previous study results. Finally, the effect of analysis variables such as finite element characteristics, transition length between elbow and straight line, fluid effect, etc. was investigated via performing parametric dynamic time history seismic analysis. As a result, it was found that use of the 1st incompatible element is recommended, the transition length is the same as curvature of the elbow, and fluid has to be considered.


Author(s):  
A. Gad-Briggs ◽  
P. Pilidis ◽  
T. Nikolaidis

An important requirement for Generation IV Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) design is the control system, which enables part power operability. The choices of control system methods must ensure variation of load without severe drawbacks on cycle performance. The objective of this study is to assess the control of the NPP under part power operations. The cycles of interest are the simple cycle recuperated (SCR) and the intercooled cycle recuperated (ICR). Control strategies are proposed for NPPs but the focus is on the strategies that result in part power operation using the inventory control method. First, results explaining the performance and load limiting factors of the inventory control method are documented; subsequently, the transient part power performances are also documented. The load versus efficiency curves were also derived from varying the load to understand the efficiency penalties. This is carried out using a modeling and performance simulation tool designed for this study. Results show that the ICR takes ∼102% longer than the SCR to reduce the load to 50% in design point (DP) performance conditions for similar valve flows, which correlates with the volumetric increase for the ICR inventory tank. The efficiency penalties are comparable for both cycles at 50% part power, whereby a 22% drop in cycle efficiency was observed and indicates limiting time at very low part power. The analyses intend to aid the development of cycles for Generation IV NPPs specifically gas cooled fast reactors (GFRs) and very high-temperature reactors (VHTRs), where helium is the coolant.


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