Influence of dead weight and internal pressure to seismic buckling probability of fast reactor vessels

Takaya, Shigeru  ; Sasaki, Naoto*

Seismic buckling of vessels is one of main concerns for the design of fast reactor plants in Japan. In previous studies, we discussed evaluation methods of seismic buckling probability of vessels by taking account of seismic hazards in order to rationalize seismic buckling evaluation, and proposed a rule for seismic buckling of vessels based on the load and resistant factor design method. The proposed method deals with only seismic load, but in actuality, dead weight and internal pressure also exist. In this study, the rule was expanded so that dead weight and internal pressure can be taken into account. Furthermore, the influences of dead weight and internal pressure to seismic buckling evaluation were discussed. As result, it was shown that approximately 10 to 20% of further rationalization of allowable seismic load could be achieved by considering dead weight and internal pressure in the evaluation.