Vertical Seismic Isolation Device for Three-Dimensional Seismic Isolation of Nuclear Power Plant Equipment—Case Study

The purpose of this study was to develop a vertical seismic isolation device essential for the three-dimensional seismic isolation design of nuclear power plant equipment. The vertical seismic isolation device in this study has a concept that can be integrally combined with a conventional laminated rubber bearing, a horizontal seismic isolator with a design vertical load of 10 kN. To develop the vertical seismic isolation device, the vertical spring and the seismic energy dissipation device capable of limiting the vertical displacement of the spring were designed and their performances were verified through actual tests. In this study, the target elevation of the floor is 136 ft, where safety-related nuclear equipment, such as cabinet and remote shutdown console, etc., is installed. The sensitivity studies were carried out to investigate the optimal design vertical isolation frequencies for the target building elevation. Based on the results of the sensitivity study, a disc spring and a helical coil spring were selected for the vertical stiffness design, and the steel damper was selected for the seismic energy dissipation, and their performance characteristics were tested to confirm the design performance. For the steel damper, three types were designed and their energy dissipation characteristics by hysteretic behavior were confirmed by the inelastic finite element analyses and the tests in static fully reversed cyclic conditions. Through the study of the vertical seismic isolation device, it was found that 2.5 Hz~3.0 Hz is appropriate for the optimal design vertical isolation. With results of the vertical seismic isolation performance analysis, the appropriate number of steel dampers are proposed to limit the vertical seismic displacement of the spring within the static displacement range by the design vertical load.

An Innovative Steel Damper with a Flexural and Shear–Flexural Mechanism to Enhance the CBF System Behavior: An Experimental and Numerical Study

An innovative passive energy damper is introduced and studied experimentally and numerically. This damper is designed as the main plate for energy absorption which is surrounded by an octagon cover. In addition to simplicity in construction, it can be easily replaced after a severe earthquake. Experimental test results, as well as finite element results, indicated that, by connecting the cross-flexural plate to the main plate, the mechanism of the plate was changed from flexural to shear. However, the cross_flexural plate always acts as a flexural mechanism. Changing the shear mechanism to a flexural mechanism, on the other hand, increased the stiffness and strength, while it reduced the ultimate displacement. Comparing the hysteresis curve of specimens revealed that models without cross_flexural plates had less strength and energy_dissipating capability than other models. Adding the flexural plate to the damper without connecting to the main plate improved the behavior of the damper, mainly by improving the ultimate displacement. Connecting the cross plate to the web plate enhanced the ultimate strength and stiffness by 84% and 3.9, respectively, but it reduced the ductility by 2.25. Furthermore, relationships were proposed to predict the behavior of the dampers with high accuracy.

Finite Element Analysis to Determine Stiffness, Strength, and Energy Dissipation of U-Shaped Steel Damper under Quasi-Static Loading

In seismic areas, the application of structural dampers becomes compulsory in the design of buildings. There are various types of dampers, such as viscous elastic dampers, viscous fluid dampers, friction dampers, tune mass dampers, yielding/ metallic dampers, and magnetic dampers. All damper systems are designed to protect structural integrities, control damages, prevent injuries by absorbing earthquake energy, and reduce deformation. This paper is a part of research investigating the behaviour of the U-shaped steel damper (as one type of metallic damper) that can be applied to the buildings in seismic areas. The dampers are used as connections between the roof and supporting structure, with the two general purposes. The first is to control the displacement of roof under an earthquake, and the second is to absorb seismic energy through the plasticity of some parts in dampers. If a strong earthquake occurs, the plasticity will absorb the seismic energy; therefore, heavy damage could be avoided from the roof’s mainframes. In this paper, several models of U-shaped steel dampers are introduced. Several parameters, such as elastic stiffness, maximum strength, and energy dissipation, are determined under two conditions. Firstly, static analysis of the proposed damper under variation of U-steel plate configurations, searching the model with more significant energy dissipation. Secondly, static analysis of the unsymmetrical and symmetrical damper under different loading directions. An in-house finite element program that involves both geometrical and material nonlinearities is developed as a problem solver. A quasi-static lateral loading is given to each model until one cycle of the hysteresis curve is reached (in the displacement range between -20 mm to +20 mm). The above parameters are calculated from the hysteresis curve. From the results, the behaviour of the U-steel damper can be described as follows. Firstly, increasing the energy dissipation in the lateral direction can be done by increasing the lateral stiffness of the damper. However, it can reduce the maximum elastic deformation of the damper. Secondly, under the random direction of loading, a symmetrical shape can increase the energy dissipation of the damper.