For important structures such as nuclear power plants, In-Structure Response Spectrum (ISRS) analysis is essential because it evaluates the safety of equipment and components installed in the structure. Because most structures are asymmetric, the response can be affected by eccentricity. In the case of seismically isolated structures, this effect can be greater due to the difference between the center of mass of the structure and the center of rigidity of the isolator layer. Therefore, eccentricity effects must be considered when designing or evaluating the ISRS of seismically isolated structures. This study investigated the change of the ISRS of an isolated structure by assuming accidental eccentricity. The variables that affect the ISRS of the isolated structure were analyzed to see what additional impact they had due to eccentricity. The ISRS of the seismically isolated structure with eccentricity was amplified more than when there was non-eccentricity, and it was boosted more significantly in specific period ranges depending on the isolator’s initial stiffness and seismic intensity. Finally, whether the displacement requirement of isolators can be applied to the variation of the ISRS due to eccentricity in the design code was also examined.

In order to evaluate the earthquake safety of equipment in structures, it is essential to analyze the In-Structure Response Spectrum (ISRS). The ISRS has a peak value at the frequency corresponding to the structural vibration mode, but the frequency and amplitude at the peak can vary because of many uncertain parameters. There are several seismic design criteria for ISRS peak-broadening for fixed base structures. However, there are no suggested criteria for constructing the design ISRS of seismically isolated structures. The ISRS of isolated structures may change due to the major uncertainty parameter of the isolator, which is the shear stiffness of the isolator and the several uncertainty parameters caused by the nonlinear behavior of isolators. This study evaluated the effects on the ISRS due to the initial stiffness of the bi-linear curve of isolators and the variation of effective stiffness by the input ground motion intensity and intense motion duration. Analyzing a simplified structural model for isolated base structure confirmed that the ISRS at the frequency of structural mode was amplified and shifted. It was found that the uncertainty of the initial stiffness of isolators significantly affects the shape of ISRS. The variation caused by the intensity and duration of input ground motions was also evaluated. These results suggested several considerations for generating ISRS for seismically isolated structures.

The Gyeong-Ju earthquake in the magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scaleoccurred in September 12, 2016. Because there are many nuclear power plants (NPP) near the epicenter of the Gyeong-Ju earthquake, the seismic stability of nuclear power plants is becoming a social problem. In order to evaluate the safety of seismically isolated NPP, the seismic response of a NPP subjected to the Gyeong-Ju earthquake was compared with those of 30 sets of artificial earthquakes corresponding to the nuclear standard design spectrum (NSDS). A 2-node model and a simple beam-stick model were used for the seismic analysis of seismically isolated NPP structures. Using 2-node model, the effect of internal temperature rise, decrease of shear stiffness, increase of lateral displacement and decrease of vertical stiffness according to nonlinear behavior of lead-rubber bearing (LRB) were evaluated. The displacement response, the acceleration response, and the shear force response of the seismically isolated nuclear containment structure were evaluated using the simple beam-stick model. It can be observed that the seismic responses of the isolated nuclear structure subjected to Gyeong-Ju earthquake is significantly less than those to the artificial earthquakes corresponding to NSDS.

This study intends to evaluate the conservativeness of the fixed-base analysis as compared to the soil-structure interaction (SSI) analysis for the seismically isolated model of a nuclear power plant in Korea. To that goal, the boundary reaction method (BRM), combining frequency-domain and time-domain analyses in a twofold process, is adopted for the SSI analysis considering the nonlinearity of the seismic base isolation. The program KIESSI-3D is used for computing the reaction forces in the frequency domain and the program MIDAS/Civil is applied for the nonlinear time-domain analysis. The BRM numerical model is verified by comparing the results of the frequency-domain analysis and time-domain analysis for the soil-structure system with an equivalent linear base isolation model. Moreover, the displacement response of the base isolation and the horizontal response at the top of the structure obtained by the nonlinear SSI analysis using BRM are compared with those obtained by the fixed-base analysis. The comparison reveals that the fixed-base analysis provides conservative peak deformation for the base isolation but is not particularly conservative in term of the floor response spectrum of the superstructure.

The Eradi Quake System (EQS) is a seismic isolation bearing system designed to minimize forces and displacements experienced by structures subjected to ground motion. The EQS dissipates seismic energy through friction of Poly Tetra Fluoro Ethylene (PTFE) disk pad. In general, a force-displacement relationship of EQS has post yield stiffness hardening during large inelastic displacement. In this study, seismic responses of seismically isolated nuclear power plant (NPP) subjected to design basis earthquake (DBE) and beyond design basis earthquakes (150% DBE and 167% DBE) are compared considering the post yield stiffness hardening effect of EQS. From the results, it can be observed that if the post-yield stiffness hardening effect of EQS is increased, the displacement response of EQS is reduced, and the acceleration and shear responses of containment structures of NPP is increased.

This paper presents a detailed procedure for a nonlinear soil-structure interaction of a seismically isolated NPP(Nuclear Power Plant) structure using the boundary reaction method (BRM). The BRM offers a two-step method as follows: (1) the calculation of boundary reaction forces in the frequency domain on an interface of linear and nonlinear regions, (2) solving the wave radiation problem subjected to the boundary reaction forces in the time domain. For the purpose of calculating the boundary reaction forces at the base of the isolator, the KIESSI-3D program is employed in this study to solve soil-foundation interaction problem subjected to vertically incident seismic waves. Wave radiation analysis is also employed, in which the nonlinear structure and the linear soil region are modeled by finite elements and energy absorbing elements on the outer model boundary using a general purpose nonlinear FE program. In this study, the MIDAS/Civil program is employed for modeling the wave radiation problem. In order to absorb the outgoing elastic waves to the unbounded soil region, spring and viscous-damper elements are used at the outer FE boundary. The BRM technique utilizing KIESSI-3D and MIDAS/Civil programs is verified using a linear soil-structure analysis problem. Finally the method is applied to nonlinear seismic analysis of a base-isolated NPP structure. The results show that BRM can effectively be applied to nonlinear soil-structure interaction problems.

In this paper, firstly, acceleration-time histories were generated by varying strong motion duration in the frequency domain for application to a seismically isolated nuclear power structure, so as to examine the effects of strong motion duration on the behavior of the structure. Secondly, real recorded earthquakes were modified to match the target response spectrum based on the revised SRP 3.7.1(2007) and the modified time histories were applied to the analysis of a seismically isolated nuclear power structure. The obtained values of acceleration and displacement responses of the structure were, finally, compared with the values obtained in case of applying acceleration-time histories generated in the frequency domain to the structure.

Structural seismic base isolation is currently regarded as a satisfactory design technology both financially and in terms of safety. Structural seismic base isolation has been accepted for even nuclear power plant design and has even been actively applied. So this paper studies the Application and Standardization for Seismically Isolated Structure of Nuclear Power Plants.