Response of a Nuclear Power Plant Building Under Incoherent Seismic Ground Motion Excitation

Abstract eng:
For verification of the seismic safety of the Gösgen-Däniken (Switzerland) nuclear power plant for an updated seismic hazard, a 3D detailed finite-element model of the reactor building is developed and coupled with a model of the main components and piping of the primary coolant system as well as major parts of the secondary system. In this paper, results from verification and validation calculations with the coupled (complete) model are presented. It focuses on few modeling aspects of soil-structure interaction by performing sensitivity analysis with the complete model under spatially incoherent ground motion excitation. A comparison is given for results of surface and embedded foundations; different embedment depths; coherency functions for different soil classes and different sets of ground motion excitation time-histories. Results in terms of response spectra for a characteristic structural node indicate that the effect of assumed embedment depth and incoherent ground motion excitation is minor for the horizontal direction and more pronounced for the vertical direction. The most significant effect on the response spectra for the selected structural node is in the present situation caused by the selection of the ground motion excitation time-history (target spectrum compatible). Benefits and limitations of different modeling assumptions are compared, conclusions are given and recommendations are derived for the upcoming project phase.

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