Evaluation of Damage Limit State for RC Frame Based on FE Modeling

Many damage limit states have been defined to characterize the extent of damages occurred in RC frame. Some of the damage limit states are defined by models that relate the limit states with the control points. Both control points and the limit state are expressed in term of response quantities. This research aims to evaluate the validity of such models by identifying the defined damage limit state with the corresponding damage based on FE modeling. The FE modeling provides a direct link between the damage and the response quantities. This link can be exploited as a basis for the evaluation. Based on the evaluation, this study proposed modified damage limit states. The response quantities with its corresponding progressive damage from FE simulation will also be used to inspect whether damage that can be expected to occur in the model structure is within the range estimated by the code based approach (CBA) damage limit state. Finally, fragility curves are constructed to assess the probability of the expected damage in the model structure under Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) scenarios. Utilizing the proposed damage limit states, the most probable damage in the structure falls in the category of slight if an earthquake at a level of DBE or MCE strikes the structure. However, at MCE level the probability of moderate damage attains 35%, or an increase by 23% compared to the DBE level.

Study on the Influence of Explosive Types on Rod Jet

In order to study the influence of explosive type on the rod jet formation of energetic composite liner, the process of rod jet formation of this liner is numerically simulated by using finite element analysis and multi-material Euler algorithm. In this paper, the rod jet formation and penetration performance of the liner are studied and analyzed by combining relevant theories and simulation calculation, and the influence law of explosive type on rod jet formation and target penetration thickness is obtained. In this paper, the stability of rod jet formed by this kind of model is verified by numerical simulation, and the influence law of explosive type on rod jet is obtained by simulating the collected data such as effective mass, tip velocity and jet length of rod jet and the equivalent target penetration thickness obtained by the quasi steady incompressible ideal fluid theory of jet penetration; it provides data support and design basis for the application of new explosives in energetic composite liner in the next stage.

Risk-adjusted Design Basis Earthquake’s Adequacy for use in Seismic Design Codes

In most buildings’ seismic design codes design basis peak ground acceleration (PGADBE) is provided by employing a uniform-hazard approach. However, a new trend in updating seismic codes is to adopt a risk-informed method to estimate the PGADBE so-called risk-adjusted design basis peak ground acceleration (PGARDBE). An attempt is made here to examine the adequacy of the PGARDBE to fulfill the assumptions made in seismic codes for converting the maximum considered earthquake’s (MCE) intensity to PGADBE. To this end, the performance of regular intermediate steel moment frames (IMF) is assessed in terms of collapse margin (CMR) and residual drift ratios in the event of MCE and design basis earthquake (DBE), respectively. The PGARDBEs are computed for Karaj County, Iran. A set of 96 index archetypes of regular IMF are designed considering four design parameters, which include the number of stories (2, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15), span lengths (4 and 8 meters), occupancies (residential and commercial), and seismic demands (0.15, 0.25, 0.35 and 0.45g). The PGADBE prescribed by Standard No. 2800 for Karaj neither meets the assumed acceptance criteria nor stands on the safe side. Meanwhile, PGARDBE fulfills the acceptance criteria but does not necessarily satisfy the implicit assumption made in codes that the code-conforming buildings have at least a CMR of 1.5 if the MCE occurs. This emphasizes that the PGARDBE should not be used without examining the CMR fulfillment. The results recommend that a lower limit need to be set on PGARDBEs, which is found to be 0.35g for Karaj. Outcomes also reveal that the code-conforming buildings designed with the proposed PGARDBE can fulfill both repairability and life safety performances at the DBE and MCE, respectively. These buildings also have a high chance to be even considered as repairable ones at the seismic demand of MCE. Furthermore, regardless of the employed method for estimating PGADBE, various relationships between design parameters with different performance indicators such as CMR, residual drift ratio, ductility demand, imposed drift ratio, and building’s normalized weight are presented. These relationships can be used to evaluate the buildings’ safety factor against collapse and repairability, justification of using IMF in regions with high seismicity, level of structural and nonstructural damage as well as the economic consequence of changes in PGADBE. The presented relationships provide a multi-criteria decision-making tool to decide on the optimum PGADBE leading to an affordable alternative and tolerable damage.

Radiation risk assessment for nuclear power plant staff in different emergency situations

The paper presents the results of radiation risk assessment for the staff of a nuclear power plant design during design basis accident (spent nuclear fuel assembly falling on fuel in reactor core or storage pool during refueling operations) and a beyond design basis accident (large leakage of the primary coolant with failure of the active part of the emergency cooling system and complete blackout for 24 h). The assessment is based on state-of-the-art radiation risk models from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The calculation of risk indicators for occupational exposure of NPP staff in emergency situations was carried out on the basis of data obtained using a computational module created in the COMSOL 5.6 multiphysics software, doses from a radioactive cloud and internal exposure due to inhalation for such radionuclides as 134Cs, 137Cs, 131I, 133I, 90Sr. A feature of this approach is the detailed consideration of the NPP industrial site infrastructure, which allows obtaining a more accurate assessment of the radionuclide air distribution and fallout.

Shaking Table Tests to Validate Inelastic Seismic Analysis Method Applicable to Nuclear Metal Components

The main purpose of this study is to perform shaking table tests to validate the inelastic seismic analysis method applicable to pressure-retaining metal components in nuclear power plants (NPPs). To do this, the test mockup was designed and fabricated to be able to describe the hot leg surge line nozzle with a piping system, which is known to be one of the seismically fragile components in nuclear steam supply systems (NSSS). The used input motions are the displacement time histories corresponding to the design floor response spectrum at an elevation of 136 ft in the in-structure building in NPPs. Two earthquake levels are used in this study. One is the design-basis safe shutdown earthquake level (SSE, PGA = 0.3 g) and the other is the beyond-design-basis earthquake level (BDBE, PGA = 0.6 g), which is linearly scaled from the SSE level. To measure the inelastic strain responses, five strain gauges were attached at the expected critical locations in the target nozzle, and three accelerometers were installed at the shaking table and piping system to measure the dynamic responses. From the results of the shaking table tests, it was found that the plastic strain response at the target nozzle and the acceleration response at the piping system were not amplified by as much as two times the input earthquake level because the plastic behavior in the piping system significantly contributed to energy dissipation during the seismic events. To simulate the test results, elastoplastic seismic analyses with the well-known Chaboche kinematic hardening model and the Voce isotropic hardening model for Type 316 stainless steel were carried out, and the results of the principal strain and the acceleration responses were compared with the test results. From the comparison, it was found that the inelastic seismic analysis method can give very reasonable results when the earthquake level is large enough to invoke plastic behavior in nuclear metal components.

Evaluation on Efficient Crushing Test in Deep Poor Drillability Formation

The ancient formation is very thick, strong abrasion and poor drillability. Formation pressure of some area is abnormal high-pressure, induced high mud density, and borehole instability problems in some formation restrict the positive displacement motor (PDM) application, and impact drilling tools are instable. All above factors restraint the rate of penetration. Based on the result of litho-mechanical experiments, the impacting experiments are performed on samples of the Jurassic formation, impact fractured efficiency are evaluated, the results show high impact resistance in the formation, the best impact speed is over 12m/s, and the result was important design basis for impact tools improvement to increase the rate of penetrate (ROP) in the deep poor drillability formation.