The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

The design of steel energy absorbing restrainers and their incorporation into nuclear power plants for enhanced safety: Volume 1 -- Summary report

Spencer, Paul N.; Zackay, Victor F.; Parker, Earl R.

UCB/EERC-79/07, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1979-02, 1 vol. (530/D38/1979/v.1)

The long-range objectives of this project are to significantly enhance safety and reduce operational costs for nuclear power plants. This would be done through utilizing, in piping system restrainer devices, the very large energy-absorbing capabilities of certain steels undergoing plastic deformation. Specifically, the objectives are (1) to develop an analytic program confirming the viability of elastic-inelastic deformation of restrainer devices as a means of controlling piping responses during seismic events and during extreme loadings caused by operational events such as water hammer, pipe whip, etc.; (2) to develop solid-state, energy-absorbing restrainers capable of meeting the criteria of the analytic program, and to confirm their behavior through experimental testing programs including shaking table tests; and (3) to convert (1) and (2) into a code position acceptable to the appropriate ASME committees and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The short-range objectives are (1) to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of an extended R&D program to accomplish the long-range objectives; and (2) to produce a plan acceptable to the nuclear power industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for undertaking such a program. The titles of the four volumes follow: Volume 1 -- Summary Report; Volume 2 -- The Development of Analyses for Reactor System Piping; Volume 3 -- Evaluation of Commercial Steels; and Volume 4 -- Review of Current Uses of Energy Absorbing Devices.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-79-07.pdf (76 MB)