Development on rubber bearings for sodium-cooled fast reactor, 4; Aging properties of a half scale thick rubber bearings based on breaking test

Watakabe, Tomoyoshi; Yamamoto, Tomohiko  ; Fukasawa, Tsuyoshi*; Okamura, Shigeki*; Somaki, Takahiro*; Morobishi, Ryota*; Sakurai, Yu*; Kato, Koji*

A seismic isolation system composed of a thick rubber bearing and an oil damper has been developed for Sodium cooled Fast Reactor. One of the advantages of the isolation system is employing the thick rubber bearing in order to realize the longer vertical natural period of a plant, and it leads to mitigation of seismic loads to mechanical components. Rubber bearing technology has progressed based on many past studies, but test data regarding an aging effect is not enough. Also, there is no data of linear strain limit and breaking behavior for the thick rubber bearing after aging. This paper focuses on aging properties of the thick rubber bearing, such as basic mechanical properties and ultimate strength. An aging promote test of the thick rubber bearing was performed by using 1/2 scale and 1/8 scale rubber bearings. Aging of the rubber bearing was reproduced by thermal degradation, where the target aging period was 30 years and 60 years. The load deflection curves of the thick rubber bearing after aging were obtained through the horizontal and vertical static loading tests, and the aging effect was evaluated by comparing with the initial mechanical properties.