Transactions of the 15th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in

Reactor Technology (SMiRT) Post-Conference No 4 "Containment of Nuclear Power

Plant", Seoul, Korea, August 23-24, 1999
CONTAINMENT DESIGN IN LIANYUNGANG NPP
Pentti Varpasuo, Fortum Enginneering Ltd, e-mail: pentti.varpasuo@fortum.com
1

INTRODUCTION

Some features about the design work for Lianyungang NPP reactor building and
containment structures are presented in this paper. The task is an ongoing process and
preliminary design of the containment system is complete and detailed design of the
inner containment is at about 50% stage from completeness.
2

DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE

The reactor building of Lianyungang NPP consists of the outer containment, the
inner containment, the internal structures and the base slab with the tendon gallery.
The outer containment is a conventionally reinforced shell structure that consists of a
cylinder part and a flat dome.
The inner containment is a pre-stressed concrete shell structure that consists of a
cylindrical part and a hemispherical dome. The inner surface of the containment is
covered with a 6 mm thick carbon steel plate to secure the tightness. The inside
diameter of the cylinder is 44.0 m. The height of the cylinder part is 41.2 m and the
top of the dome is at level +71.60. The thickness of the cylinder and dome are 1.2 m
and 1.0 m respectively.
The pre-stressing of the inner containment will be performed by means of the posttensioning system. The tendons are divided into two horizontal and two vertical sets.
The horizontal tendons in the cylinder and dome will be going around the whole 360
degrees so, that the anchorage is in turn on the opposite sides of the containment. The
vertical tendons are inverted U-shaped tendons and they are divided into two groups
of tendons at 90 degrees to each other.
The base slab is utilized for the anchorage of the vertical tendons. The base slab is a
conventionally reinforced massive concrete structure that is divided into two layers
by the base liner. The both containments are supported on the lower part of the base
slab and the internal structures are supported on the upper part of the 3 meters thick
base slab. The top of the upper part of the base slab is at level +8.00 and the bottom
of the lower part of the base slab is at level +4.00. The diameter of the base slab is
51.2 m. The ring-shaped tendon gallery is situated under the base slab and centred
under the inner containment. The view of the reactor building model is given in the
Figure 1.

Figure 1. 3D layout model of Lianyungang NPP reactor building

LOADS

Seismic load for the plant structures and equipment was defined as follows.The 5 %

bedrock field ground spectra according to HAF 0101 [i[i], 1992 ] were adopted for
targets for ground motion simulation. The horizontal ground motion spectrum was
anchored to 0.2g and the vertical ground motion spectrum was anchored to 0.1g
[ii[ii], 1989]. The horizontal ground motion target spectrum and the simulated
spectrum as well as the simulated acceleration time history are depicted in Figures 2
and 3.

sp ec t r a l a cc e le r at io n , g

0,7
0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
0,1

10

100

frequency, Hz

Figure 2 Target and simulated ground motion spectra

2,50
2,00

accelerat io n , m /s/s

1,50
1,00
0,50
0,00
-0,50
-1,00
-1,50
-2,00
-2,50
0

10

12

14

time, s

Figure 3 Simulated horizontal ground acceleration time history

Other extreme loads to be taken into account in the design of the containment system
are gas explosion load, tornado load (F2 on Fujita scale) , hard missile impact
(perpendicular impact of 200 kg rigid cylinder impacting the wall at speed of 50 m/s)
and 5 bar accident pressure load.

MATERIAL AND FOUNDATION SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

The design code used in the containment design is ASME code [ iii[iii], 1995]. The
material specifacations are taken according to standards of Russian Federation.The
grade of concrete for the design of the reactor building is B25 according to Russian
concrete classification given in building code [iv[iv], 1985], except in the inner
containment where the grade of concrete is B45. A-III hot rolled ribbed bars
according to Russian code were considered for principal reinforcement. Prestressing
tendons are Freyssinet type tendons consisting of 55 strands of 15.7 mm nominal
diameter, made of high strength steel SUPER St 1630/1860. Nominal cross-section
area of a tendon is 8250 mm2 and nominal mass per metre is 65 kg/m. Modulus of
elasticity is 199000 MN/m2 and coefficient of thermal expansion is 1.010-5 /C.
The following strength and elastic characteristics for weak-weathered metamorphic
rock are used in the developing of finite element model:
static elasticity modulus
Eo = 37300 MPa,
dynamic elasticity modulus
E = 45500 MPa,
3
weight density
= 26.4 kN/m ,
speed of longitudinal waves
Vp = 4640 m/s,
Poissons ratio
= 0.24,
shear modulus
G = 14800 MPa.
The frequency independent spring and damper constants were calculated according
to elastic half-space theory following the recommendations given in reference [
v
[v],1986] and [vi[vi] , 1985] for circular shape foundation slab.
5

FEM MODELING

Four-noded quadrilateral shell elements capable to take also transverse shear forces
into account were used to model the structure. Each node in the model has six degrees
of freedom, a translation in the X-, Y- and Z-directions and rotations around these
directions. A 3D-model was created for the whole reactor building. The 3D-model
consists of the outer containment, the inner containment, the internal structures and
the base slab with the tendon gallery. The FEM-model was formed along centre lines
of the concrete structures. The number of shell elements used to describe the concrete
walls and floors is 21994. The columns in the internal structures were described by 48
beam elements. The properties of the elements were determined according to the
concrete material properties and the nominal dimensions of the structures. The main
components were described by point mass elements. In this way, the weight of these
components was taken into account both in static and dynamic analyses. Water in the
pools of the internal structures was also modelled by point mass elements.
The prestressing tendons in the inner containment were described by 16072 bar
elements. The tendons were placed in their real places giving offsets for the bar
elements. The vertical tendons are placed on the centre line in the cylinder. In the
dome the vertical tendon group 1 is placed a little outside of the centre line and the
group 2 a little inside of the centre line. The horizontal hoop tendons are offset 0.36
m outside of the centre line in the cylinder and 0.30 m outside of the centre line in

the dome. In the vicinity of the equipment hatch opening every second hoop tendon
is bent 0.5...0.8 m into inward direction. The equivalent drop of temperature
representing the prestressing forces in tendons varies from -364.3 to -716.7 C,
which corresponds to stress varying from 725 to 1426 MN/m2. Finite element model
of the reactor building is depicted in Figure 4.
6

RESULTS

The design work is an ongoing process and at this stage the liner plate design and the
design of mild steel reinforcing for the containment is progressed to the mid height
of the cylindrical part of the inner containement. At the same time the design of outer
containment strcucture is progressing as parallel task. To give an example of typical
results of analysis work the X- component of the strain tensor in the inner
containment wall from the post-tensioning load is depicted in Figure 5.
7

SEISMIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS

The earthquake excitation was applied to a big mass because the large mass method
was used to get the desired time history. The big mass was connected by springs and
dampers to the base level of the structure. The eigenvalues and -modes were
calculated by the Lanczos method. All modes below 50 Hz were used in the modal
transient analysis to solve the displacement, velocity and acceleration histories.
Damping of structures was determined by the equivalent viscous damping and the
damping value was 5 % for all modes. Solution time-span was selected to be 20
seconds with an increment of 5 ms between each calculation point. Duration of the
design earthquake was 15 seconds.The acceleration response spectra were calculated
using four different damping values, 0.5, 2, 5 and 10 % of critical damping, at the
following 73 frequencies: 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, ... , 3.0, 3.15, 3.3, 3.45, 3.6, 3.8, 4.0, 4.2, 4.4,
4.7, 5.0, 5.3, 5.661, 6.0, 6.25, 6.5, 6.75, 7.0, 7.3, 7.6, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, ... , 13.0, 13.565,
14.0, 14.5, 15.0, 15.801, 17.0, 18.5, 20, 24, 27.238, 31.127, 33, 40 and 50 Hz. The
response spectra were determined at points near the centre of the concrete floors of the
internal structures and base slab and at two extra points both in the inner and outer
containment. At each point, the spectra were evaluated in the global X-, Y- and Zdirections.

Figure 4 Finite element model of reactor building

Figure 5. Inner containment strains from post-tensioning load. Fringe plot of Ycomponent.
CONCLUSION

When the resultsof the analyses made up to this using different modelling assumptions for the
structural modelling of reactor building and containment structures are assessed following remarks
can be made:
the reduced models (stick models, models using condensation, superelements or
component mode synthesis) are tend to overestimate the structural response for seismic
load
the levels of spectral response for reduced models can be overestimated as much as by
factor of two
Based on the observations made during the study presented above it seems that reduction methods
used to decrease the size of dynamic models do not give accurate results but tend to overestimate
the response significantly. In view of the current computer facilities possibilities to run large

dynamic models the use of unreduced, whole models seems advisable. In addition, the design of
structures is straightforward when true 3D models are used for all types of analyses of the reactor
building structures and the results from seismic response calculations can be used directly in the
desing and proportioning tasks of individual structural elements.
9

REFERENCES

i[[i]] Safety Guide on Earthquakes and Associated Topics in Relation to NPP Siting,
HAF0101. Approved jointly by NNSB and SSB. A Collection of Safety Guides for NPP,
NNSB. Law Publisher of China, 1992.
ii[[ii]] Normi proektirovanija sejsmostojkih atomnih stancij. PiN AE G-5-006-87. (Code
for design of seismically resistant nuclear power plants), Gosatomenergonadzor SSSR.M.: Energoatomizdat, 1989.
iii[[iii]] 1995, Boiler & Pressure vessel code III, Division 2, Code for Concrete rector
Vessels and Containments, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers / American
Conrete Institute Standard 359-95.
iv[[iv]] SNiP 2.03.01-84. Betonnie i zchelezobetonnie konstuktsii. (Code for concrete
and reinforced concrete constructions),M. Gosstroi SSSR. 1985.
v[[v]] ASCE STANDARD 4-86. Seismic Analysis of Safety-Related Nuclear Structures and
Commentary on Standard for Seismic Analysis of Safety Related Nuclear Structures.
Approved September 1996.
vi[[vi]] Ivanov P.L. Grunti i osnovanija gidrotehnicheskih sooruzchenij. ( Soils and
foundations for hydrotechnical constructions), M. Visshaja Shkola. 1985.