Steel plate concrete (SC) composite structure is now being recognized as a promising technology applicable to nuclear power plants as it is faster and suitable for modular construction. It is required to identify its dynamic characteristics prior to perform the seismic design of the SC structure. Particularly, the damping ratio of the structure is one of the critical design factors to control the dynamic response of structure. This paper compares the criteria for the damping ratios of each type of structures which are prescribed in the regulatory guide for the nuclear power plant. In order to identify the damping ratio of SC shear wall, this study made SC wall specimens and conducted experiments by cyclic lateral load tests and vibration tests with impact hammer. During the lateral loading test, SC wall specimens exhibited large ductile capacities with increasing amplitude of loading due to the confinement effects by the steel plate and the damping ratios increased until failure. The experimental results show that the damping ratios increased from about 6% to about 20% by increasing the load from the safe shutdown earthquake level to the ultimate strength level.

In this study, the investigation of the local damage evaluation method for the SC structure subjected to impact load was carried out. The conventional RC formula and SC formula to calculate wall thickness to prevent perforation were studied and compared. Finally, these results were compared with finite element analysis results using LS-Dyna, and the future direction to develop the reasonable local damage evaluation method of the NPP SC structure was suggested.

Recently, SC(Steel plate concrete) structure has been widely used in the design of the nuclear power plant structure because of its construction efficiency. In this study, the structural design program for SC structure was developed in accordance with KEPIC-SNG to provide optimal design condition. Especially, to reduce unnecessary simple repeat work in the design process, the design automation function was extensively included. The developed program is consist of three different design module: wall, slab, and connection design module.