On-Site Vibration Test for Measuring Damping Ratio of PWR Reactor Coolant Loop

In the Application for Construction Plan License after the Great East Japan Earthquake, it was needed to revalidate the damping ratio to apply 3% for seismic analyses of Reactor Coolant Loop (RCL) with two-point-support Steam Generators (SGs) which was normally 0.5% or 1% in the past Applications. For the revalidation, vibration tests of SGs were carried out at Unit 2 and Unit 3 in Mihama Power Station of the Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. In the test at Mihama Unit 2, SG top was hit horizontally by the pendulum type hammering device. As a result, in the hot leg (HL) direction, 9% damping ratio has been obtained. In the test at Mihama Unit 3, electro-hydraulic actuators were installed at the top of reinforced concrete wall surrounding SG and SG upper manhole was excited. In the excitation test, frequency response curves were obtained by changing the frequency stepwise in sinusoidal wave at constant amplitude. The damping ratio has been confirmed as more than 3%, specified in JEAG 4601-1991 as standard value, in the HL perpendicular direction which provided smaller damping ratio compared to the HL direction. Dissipation energy of snubber was measured and it has been confirmed that snubbers themselves do not contribute damping effect for small SG displacement like tests in Mihama Unit 2 and Unit 3. Large dissipation energy of snubbers would be expected in earthquake. It has been realized that conservative large responses are computed in RCL seismic analysis if the damping ratios obtained are used.