Shaking table tests of a 1:15 reinforced concrete containment vessel model for a nuclear power plant

The seismic capacity of the containment of a nuclear power plant is of high importance as it offers the final safety protection to the plant. In this study, a 1:15 containment model with less ballast of a prototype containment of a nuclear power plant was designed for shaking table tests based on the similarity theory and simplification measures. In the tests, El Centro wave, Taft wave and artificial wave were employed as seismic inputs. To justify the safety of the prototype containment under the ultimate safety earthquake at the SL-2 level (peak acceleration 0.25g), three load cases of 0.1g, 0.2g and 0.3g peak accelerations (corresponding to 0.088g, 0.175g and 0.263g for the prototype containment) were applied, and the white noise scanning test was conducted before each load case. The dynamic responses of the containment under three load cases were measured using accelerometers, displacement meters and strain gauges. The test data was analyzed and results showed that the prototype containment is within the elastic range and has sufficient seismic safety margin under the seismic motion at the SL-2 level.