The Impact of Seismic Isolation and Soil Structure Interaction on the Power Plants Structures

Abstract

The case study in this research is particularly regarding the main and secondary containments in the safest type of the power plants which is the pressurized water reactor. The European pressurized reactor (EPR) is taken as a case of analysis. The reactor building containments are designed to withstandseismic events. The 3D modeling analysis which has been established by ABAQUS 2023 software for the containment structure would reveal the behavior and distribution of stress under the earthquake load combination case. The variation of soil types (clay, dense Sand&Gravel and rock) are considered as parameters of analysis and the foundation is studied for the fixed and isolated base with prestressing hoop and vertical prestressing configuration in the main containment wall as is common in the Russian reactor. The behavior of the main containment (prestressing wall) of the internal shield response behavior is studied due to exposure to Elcentro - Seismic excitation in case of fixed and isolated base.The base isolated system is more efficient for shielding and safety purposes than fixed base in all cases of soil types. Isolated basewould be preferred for using more than fixed base in vital structures such as power plant stations