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- Title
Mid‐height seismic isolation of equipment in nuclear power plants.
- Authors
Lal, Kaivalya M.; Whittaker, Andrew S.; Constantinou, Michael C.
- Abstract
An innovative seismic isolation solution for designers of safety‐class equipment in advanced nuclear power plants is introduced. The test specimen was a tall, slender, carbon steel vessel that could represent a reactor vessel, steam generator, or a heat exchanger in a nuclear power plant: 240 inches tall, outer diameter of 60 inches, and wall thickness of 1 inch. The vessel was supported by three radial mounts at its mid‐height, near its center of gravity, on a steel frame. The vessel was subjected to three‐component ground motions using a 6DOF earthquake simulator. The specimen was filled with water for testing to indirectly account for the fluid and internal equipment present inside a prototype vessel. Three configurations were tested: non‐isolated, isolated using single Friction Pendulum (SFP) bearings, and isolated using triple Friction Pendulum (TFP) bearings. The test results demonstrate that mid‐height seismic isolation is practical and enables a significant reduction in horizontal spectral accelerations. These outcomes are not specific to the spherical sliding bearings used in the experiments but are broadly applicable to mid‐height, seismically isolated equipment.
- Subjects
GROUND motion; CENTER of mass; STEAM generators; CARBON steel; NUCLEAR power plants; STEEL framing
- Publication
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 2023, Vol 52, Issue 4, p998
- ISSN
0098-8847
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/eqe.3798