The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

The design of steel energy-absorbing restrainers and their incorporation into nuclear power plants for enhanced safety (final technical report, vol 1B): Stochastic seismic analyses of nuclear power plant structures and piping systems subjected to multiple

Lee, Meng-Chi; Penzien, Joseph

UCB/EERC-80/19, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1980-06, 158 pages (530/D38/1980/v.1B)

A stochastic method, based on random vibration theory, has been developed in this report for the seismic analysis of nuclear power plant structures and piping systems subjected to multiple support excitations. Through either the time or frequency domain, the mean and extreme values of structural and piping system response can be found, including the cross-correlations of modal response and the cross-correlations of multiple support excitations. Stationary white noise and stationary filtered white noise ground excitations are used in this study. A computer program has been developed to carry out the stochastic seismic analysis. The results for several realistic nuclear power plant structures and piping systems with and without modal cross-correlations and support excitation cross-correlations are compared. Based on the results of this investigation, it is concluded that neglecting these cross-correlations can lead to large errors. The stochastic method reported is proved to be more accurate than the spectrum method and more economical than the time-history method. Therefore, this stochastic method is recommended for use in the seismic analysis of nuclear power plants.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-80-19.pdf (10 MB)