Core Seismic Experiment and Analysis of Full Scale Single Model for Fast Reactor

Author(s):  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Tomohiko Yamamoto ◽  
Seiji Kitamura ◽  
Hidenori Harada

To design fast reactor (FR) core components, seismic response must be evaluated in order to ensure structural integrity. Generally, the fast reactor core is made of several hundred core elements in hexagonal arrangement. When a big earthquake occurs, large horizontal displacement, vertical displacement (raising) and impact force of each core element may cause a trouble for control rod insertability, reactivity insertion and core element intensity. Therefore, a seismic analysis method of a fast reactor core considering three-dimensional nonlinear behavior, such as bouncing, impact, fluid-structure interaction, etc. was developed. This paper presents a validation of the core element vibration analysis code in three dimensions (REVIAN-3D) for a full scale model. In this validation, the vertical behavior (rising displacement) and horizontal behavior (Impact force, horizontal response) as a single core element of the analysis result agreed very well with the experiments.

Author(s):  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Tomohiko Yamamoto ◽  
Seiji Kitamura ◽  
Shigeki Okamura

To design fast reactor (FR) core components, seismic response must be evaluated in order to ensure structural integrity. Generally, the fast reactor core is made of several hundred core elements in hexagonal arrangement. When a big earthquake occurs, large horizontal displacement, vertical displacement (rising) and impact force of each core element may cause a trouble for control rod insertability, reactivity insertion and core element intensity. Therefore, a seismic analysis method of a fast reactor core considering three-dimensional nonlinear behavior, such as bouncing, impact, fluid-structure interaction, etc. was developed. Validation of the core element vibration analysis code in three dimensions (REVIAN-3D) was conducted by 1/1.5 scale 32 core element mock-ups one-row test and 1/2.5 scale 313 core element mock-ups hexagonal-matrix test. In this verification, the applicability of the result obtained on a single model test or a small number of scale tests is verified when the number of core components increases. The vertical behavior (rising displacement) and horizontal behavior (Impact force, horizontal response) as a single core element of the analysis result agreed very well with the experiments.


Author(s):  
Tomohiko Yamamoto ◽  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Kazuteru Kawamura ◽  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Hidenori Harada

In design of fast reactor (FR) core components, seismic response must be evaluated in order to ensure the structural integrity. Thus, a core seismic analysis method has been developed to evaluate 3D core vibration behavior considering fluid structure interaction and vertical displacement (upward). Thirty seven 1/1.5 scale core element models which shape hexagonal-arrangement were used to validate the core element vibration analysis code in three dimensions (REVIAN-3D). Based on the test data, the newly incorporated analysis model has been verified to respond to strong excitation.


Author(s):  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Tomohiko Yamamoto ◽  
Seiji Kitamura ◽  
Shigeki Okamura

To design fast reactor (FR) core components, seismic response must be evaluated in order to ensure structural integrity. Therefore, advanced analysis method must be developed to calculate seismic response of a fast reactor core. The fast reactor core is generally made of several hundred core elements which are hexagonal flexible beams embedded at the lower support plate in hexagonal arrangement. When a big earthquake occurs, large horizontal displacement, vertical displacement (rising) and impact force of each core element may cause a trouble for control rod insertability and core element intensity. Therefore, a seismic analysis method of a fast reactor core considering three-dimensional nonlinear behavior, such as impact, fluid-structure interaction, was developed. 1/1.5 scale 37 core element mock-ups hexagonal-matrix experiment was performed to validate the core elements vibration analysis code in three dimensions (REVIAN-3D). Vertical behavior (rising displacement) and horizontal behavior (impact force) were good agreement with experiments by the validation of REVIAN-3D.


Author(s):  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Kazuteru Kawamura ◽  
Hidenori Harada ◽  
Tomohiko Yamamoto

Abstract To design fast reactor (FR) core components, seismic response must be evaluated in order to ensure structural integrity. Thus, a core seismic analysis method has been developed to evaluate 3D core vibration behavior considering fluid structure interaction and vertical displacements (rising). The analysis code is verified by a series of vibration tests. The evaluation model to simulate the influence of core element deformation due to heat and irradiation were developed and the analysis of the seismic test was performed. And the evaluation model was verified by comparing the seismic test and analysis results. A fast reactor core consists of hundreds of core elements, which lengthen due to thermal expansion and swelling. So, the core elements are self-standing on the core support structure and not restrained in the axial direction. When the vertical seismic excitation surpasses gravitational acceleration, it is necessary to consider vertical displacements and horizontal displacements of the core elements simultaneously. This 3-D vibration behavior is affected by the fluid loads from ambient coolant and the interference of surrounding structures. To solve this, the influential factors to vibration behaviors due to the structure and fluid body, including fluid structure interaction, are extracted and the 3-D reactor core group vibration analysis code (REVIAN-3D) is developed. Core elements are deformed due to thermal expansion and irradiation, and are interfered with surrounding elements each other. The interference increases the frictional force acting on the core element and reduce the vertical displacement (rising) of the core element during the earthquake. To evaluate this reduction of rising, the evaluation model simulating this deformation is incorporated in REVIAN-3D. In this study, the analysis of the vibration test was carried out using the new incorporated evaluation model. As the deformation of mock-up increases, the vertical displacement (rising) decreases, and when the initial interference due to deformation exceeds the threshold, no rising occurs. This trend agreed well between the vibration test and analysis. It is verified that the new incorporated evaluation model simulates the test result enough.


Author(s):  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Kazuo Hirota ◽  
Masatsugu Monde ◽  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Iwao Ikarimoto

A fast reactor core consists of several hundreds of core assemblies, which are hexagonal flexible beams embedded at the lower support plate in a hexagonal arrangement, separated by small gaps, and immersed in a fluid. Core assemblies have no support for vertical fixing in order to avoid the influence of thermal expansion and swelling. These days, in Japan, it has become necessary to postulate huge earthquakes in seismic evaluations. If a great earthquake occurs, the large displacement and impact force in each core assembly may cause problems with control rod insertability and core assembly strength. So, it is necessary to grasp the vibration behavior of the core elements during an earthquake in order to appropriately design the core support structures and core elements of a fast reactor. Thus, considering horizontal and vertical forces (impact forces and fluid forces) acting on the core elements during an earthquake, a core seismic analysis method has been developed to evaluate 3D core vibration behavior considering fluid structure interaction and vertical displacements (rising). This paper summarizes the details of the core element vibration analysis code in 3D (REVIAN-3D) that has been developed.


Author(s):  
Kazuhiko Iigaki ◽  
Masato Ono ◽  
Yosuke Shimazaki ◽  
Daisuke Tochio ◽  
Atsushi Shimizu ◽  
...  

On March 11th, 2011, the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake which is one of the largest earthquakes in japan occurred and the maximum acceleration in observed seismic wave in the HTTR exceeded the design value in a part of input seismic motions. Therefore, a visual inspection, a seismic analysis and a performance confirmation test of facilities were carried out in order to confirm the integrity of facility after the earthquake. The seismic analysis was carried out for the reactor core structures by using the response magnification factor method. As the results of the evaluation, the generated stress in the graphite blocks in the reactor core at the earthquake were well below the allowable values of safety criteria, and thus the structural integrity of the reactor core was confirmed. The integrity of reactor core was also supported by the visual inspections of facilities and the operation without reactor power in cold conditions of HTTR.


Author(s):  
Shinichiro Matsubara ◽  
Akihisa Iwasaki ◽  
Hidenori Harada ◽  
Tomohiko Yamamoto

Abstract The fast reactor core is composed of hundreds of core elements that self-stand on the lower support plate, and core elements does not have support to constrain vertical displacement in order to avoid effects such as thermal elongation. When an earthquake occurs, the group vibration behavior including the rising of core elements in the vertical direction, the collision with adjacent core elements in the horizontal direction, and the fluid structure interaction is observed. The three dimensional core group vibration analysis code (REVIAN-3D) for evaluating these has been constructed. In this study, to grasp and estimate the group vibration behavior with and without a core former under the earthquake motion, seismic experiment of hexagonal multi bundle model using core element mock-up was conducted. These test results show that the presence of the core former decrease the horizontal displacements and increases core compaction. And the test results are used for the verification data of the analysis code REVIAN-3D.[1]


2014 ◽  
Vol 668-669 ◽  
pp. 244-247
Author(s):  
Mei Huang ◽  
Yuan Yuan Zhao ◽  
Zhao Yang Xing ◽  
Hao Yuan ◽  
Jian Nan Tang

In this article, finite element method is used to analyze the properties of the reactor core under seismic load, and redesign the center assemblies to resist deformation and impact force. The result shows that the maximum force on the lug boss is decreased while the springs are applied.


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