Large strain nonlinear model of lead rubber bearings for beyond design basis earthquakes

Seunghyun Eem, Daegi Hahm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies on the application of the lead rubber bearing (LRB) isolation system to nuclear power plants are being carried out as one of the measures to improve seismic performance. Nuclear power plants with isolation systems require seismic probabilistic safety assessments, for which the seismic fragility of the structures, systems, and components needs be calculated, including for beyond design basis earthquakes. To this end, seismic response analyses are required, where it can be seen that the behaviors of the isolation system components govern the overall seismic response of an isolated plant. The numerical model of the LRB used in these seismic response analyses plays an important role, but in most cases, the extreme performance of the LRB has not been well studied. The current work therefore develops an extreme nonlinear numerical model that can express the seismic response of the LRB for beyond design basis earthquakes. A full-scale LRB was fabricated and dynamically tested with various input conditions, and test results confirmed that the developed numerical model better represents the behavior of the LRB over previous models. Subsequent seismic response analyses of isolated nuclear power plants using the model developed here are expected to provide more accurate results for seismic probabilistic safety assessments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)600-606
Number of pages7
JournalNuclear Engineering and Technology
Volume51
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2019

Keywords

  • Isolation system
  • Lead rubber bearing
  • Nonlinear numerical model
  • Nuclear power plants
  • Seismic isolation
  • Seismic response analysis

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Large strain nonlinear model of lead rubber bearings for beyond design basis earthquakes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this