Finite element modeling Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

A half model of roof slab, which acts as a support for various components, is
shown in Fig. 5.1. A quarter solid model of roof slab is built using ANSYS, considering
the symmetry in geometry and boundary conditions is shown in Fig 5.2. The roof slab
model without top plate is shown in Fig 5.3. The solid model consists of totally 46
volumes and each volume is glued with the adjacent volumes for obtaining connectivity
between adjacent elements. The roof slab outer shell, top and bottom plates, radial
stiffeners, coolant inlet and outlet pipes and components supported by roof slab are
made with low carbon A48P2 steel and bottom outer shell of roof slab is made with AISI
316LN steel. The material properties of components conforming to RCC-MR standard at
a working temperature of 1000C are shown in Table 5.1.

Fig 5.1 Half model of Roof Slab

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Finite element modeling Chapter 5

Fig. 5.2 A quarter model of roof slab

Fig 5.3 Roof slab model without top plate

Table 5.1 Material properties

Young’s modulus Poisson’s Density Average yield

Material 2 3
N/mm ratio kg/mm strength N/mm2

A48P2 2.05x105 0.30 7.850e-6 310

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316LN 1.78 x10 0.30 7.900e-6 275

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Finite element modeling Chapter 5

The finite element meshing of the model is done with SOLID 186 elements. It is a
higher order 3D 20 node structural solid element, having quadratic displacement
behavior and is well suited to modeling irregular meshes [14]. The element is defined by
20 nodes having three degrees of freedom per node, translations in the nodal x, y, and z
directions is shown in Fig 5.4. The x-direction displacement u is described by the
polynomial displacement field of 3D 20 node brick element is given by
u  a1  a 2 x  a 3 y  a 4 z  a 5 x 2  a 6 y 2  a 7 z 2  a 8 xy  a 9 yz  a10 zx  a11 x 2 y  a12 xy 2
 a13 y 2 z  a14 yz 2  a15 zx 2  a16 z 2 x  a17 xyz  a18 x 2 yz  a19 xy 2 z  a 20 xyz 2
Similar expressions are used for displacements v and w, for a total 60 degrees of
freedom in the element. The element supports plasticity, hyper elasticity, creep, stress
stiffening, large deflection, and large strain capabilities. It supports plasticity, hyper
elasticity, creep, stress stiffening, large deflection, and large strain capabilities.

Fig. 5.4 Solid 186 element geometry

Each volume is meshed separately with different element sizes varying from 60
to 125 for reducing the number of elements in the model. The meshed model of roof slab
without top plate is shown in Fig. 5.5.
The roof slab is supported on reactor vault by a cylindrical support shell in
tension. The support shell is an extension of the outer shell of roof slab. It serves to
transmit the load of entire reactor assembly to the embedment provided in reactor vault.
Fixed boundary conditions and symmetry boundary conditions on the roof slab are
shown Fig. 5.6 and Fig. 5.7 respectively.

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Finite element modeling Chapter 5

Fig. 5.5 Finite element model without top plate

Fixed boundary
conditions

Fig. 5.6 Fixed boundary conditions

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Finite element modeling Chapter 5

Symmetry boundary
conditions

Fig. 5.7 Symmetry boundary conditions

The weight of different components and concrete loading as listed in Table 3.1
are converted in terms of pressure and applied on the corresponding areas of solid
model. Applied Loading conditions on the roof slab are shown in Fig. 5.8.

Fig. 5.8 Loads applied on the roof slab

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