IJSART VOLUME 9 ISSUE 6 – JUNE 2023 ISSN [ONLINE]: 2395 - 1052

A LINEAR FINITE ELEMENT THREE-

DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF A
PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
CONTAINMENT DOME WITH LARGE
OPENINGS
M.ARUN, STUDENT, G.SOUNTHARYA, HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
MASTER OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING, SEMBODAI RUKMANI
VARADHARAJAN ENGINEERING COLLEGE, SEMBODAI,
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, ANNA UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI
MAIL ID: [email protected], CONTACT NO: 8056612732

ABSTRACT

The containment design of Indian PHWR (Pressurized Heavy water Nuclear Reactor) based Nuclear
Power Plant has been developed using a complete double containment philosophy. The principal design criteria
for containment arise out of Design Basis Accidents (DBA) such as Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and
Main Steam Line Break (MSLB). The prestressed concrete inner containment dome has got four major circular
(in plan) openings; these openings are called steam generator (SG) openings. PHWR dome is considered in this
study and it is composed of a hemispherical dome supported on ring beam. To simplify the analysis, the
structural geometry is assumed to be axisymmetric. At the dome, the prestressing tendons are placed in the
circumferential direction and the directions parallel to x and y-coordinates. In the numerical simulation, eight-
node shell elements (six degrees of freedom per node) are used to model the parts of the dome and ring beam.

Keywords
Nuclear Double Containment, Prestressed concrete, Dome, Design, SAP 2000

I. INTRODUCTION (Energy Statistics, 2013). Nuclear power is the

fourth-largest source of electricity in India. As of
Nuclear Reactor Technology has found 2010, India has 20 nuclear reactors in operation, in
potential in this era where innovation and six nuclear power plants, generating
development are keys to build a brighter future. 4,780 MW while seven other reactors are under
The massive abundance of energy released through construction and are expected to generate an
the process of fission, as well as fusion, are being additional 5,300 MW. A nuclear reactor is modeled
harnessed and used at constantly increasing and analyzed using SAP 2000 (Computers and
efficiencies. The first artificial nuclear reactor, Structures 2007)
called the Chicago Pile-1, was constructed at the
University of Chicago, by a team led by Enrico II. PRESSURIZED HEAVY WATER
Fermi, in late 1942. This was the seed that led to NUCLEAR REACTOR (PHWR)
the growth and understanding of nuclear energy By moving to greater levels of enrichment of
technology all over the world, utilizing newer and U235, it is possible to tolerate a greater level of
better ways to increase the efficiency and safety of neutron absorption in the core (that is, absorption
the Nuclear Reactors as a world. The total installed by non-fissile, non-fertile materials) and thus use
capacity for electricity generation in our Indian ordinary water as both a moderator and a coolant.
country has increased from 16,271 MW as on The two commercial reactor types based on this
31.03.1971 to 206,526 MW as on 31.03.2012.

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principle are both American designs, but are widely 1. PSC cylindrical wall,
used in over 20 countries. 2. PSC spherical dome and
3. PSC ring beam.

The Inner Containment structure has vertical

cylindrical wall and segmented spherical dome as
cap and cylindrical wall rest on a common
reinforced concrete base raft. The prestressed
concrete inner containment dome has got four
major circular (in plan) openings; these openings
are called steam generator (SG) openings. The
prestressed concrete ring beam, at the springing
Fig. 1: Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) level of the dome (i.e. at the junction of dome and
wall).
2.1 The Containment Vessel

The containment vessel is a structure of double

containment reactor building. The containment
design of Indian PHWR based NPP has been
developed using a complete double containment
philosophy. The principal design criteria for
containment arise out of Design Basis Accidents
(DBA) such as Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA)
and Main Steam Line Break (MSLB).

The structural arrangement of a reactor building of

a typical Indian PHWR consists of two
containments. The containments are,
1. Outer Containment
2. Inner Containment Fig. 2: Typical section of Inner Containment Structure

2.1.1 Outer Containment III. Analysis Software

The outer containment (OC) structure is made of The development of software for applications in
reinforced concrete (RC). The outer Containment engineering was foreseeable as soon as the
structure has vertical cylindrical wall and complex computer system had come into being
segmented spherical dome as cap and cylindrical early last century. Fast and accurate analysis and
wall rest on a common reinforced concrete base design, provides a large reduction in cost and time.
raft. The RC outer containment (OC) dome has got The Analysis software involved in this thesis
four major circular (in plan) openings, which are includes SAP2000.
called steam generator (SG) openings. The OC is
designed against aircraft, missile impact, seismic,
wind loads and a small overpressure or under
IV. Geometry
pressure due to accident conditions.
A prestressed concrete nuclear containment dome
2.1.2 Inner Containment
is considered for this study, and is shown in figure
The inner containment (IC) structure is made of 4.1. It is a prestressed concrete structure which is
prestressed concrete (PSC). The inner containment axisymmetric form. The prestressed anchorages are
is designed to withstand pressure and temperature located in orthogonal direction. It rests on a flat
conditions during accidents and seismic effects, slab. The structure is located in the seismic zone
with specific leakage provisions. The main III, as per IS 1893-2002. The typical cross section
components of the inner containment are, of containment vessel is shown in Fig 4.1. This

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model has been prepared as per the following

design details.

4.1 FINITE ELEMENTS

 Diameter of dome = 44.00 m
4.1.1 3D Thick Shell Element
 Height of dome = 22.00 m
 Thickness of dome wall = 0.48 m 3-D thick Shell Element includes membrane,
 Height of ring beam = 5.00 m bending and transverse shear deformation effect
 Radius of ring beam = 22.96 m (i.e. thick shell element), having six degrees of
 Thickness of ring beam = 2.00 m freedom per node (UX, UY, UZ, ROTX, ROTY,
 Diameter of SG openings = 4.10 m ROTZ). The element can be shaped as a four, eight
 Thickness of dome near or twelve noded quadrilateral, or a three or six
SG opening = 1.22 m noded triangle depending on the order of the
element. The element configuration, node location
and face numbering convention for top and bottom
The Indian PHWR program has been emphasizing surfaces are as shown in Figure 4.1.
on the double containment philosophy, the
structural configuration of the containment of
Indian NPP double wall concept ensures the
desired safety levels for effective accident
mitigation, by branching the main operation
requirements in the following manner.

1. The IC is designed to withstand pressure and

temperature conditions during accidents and
seismic effects, with specific leakage provisions.

2. The OC is designed against aircraft/missile

impact, seismic/wind loads and a small
overpressure or under pressure due to accident Fig.4.1 3-D shell Element configuration
conditions.

3. The annular space between the two walls is used The element can be shaped as a four, eight or
to collect and filter residual radioactive leakage twelve noded quadrilateral, or a three or six noded
(especially for highly hypothetical situations not triangle depending on the order of the element. The
yet covered by design conditions). element configuration, node location and face
numbering convention for top and bottom surfaces
are as shown in Fig. 4. The element may be
oriented anywhere in the space, but the
connectivity must be given in the order shown in
Fig. 4, in which node numbering sequence starts at
a corner node and proceeds along the perimeter of
the element. For pressure loading, the pressure is
integrated over the area of the loaded face. Stresses
can be determined in both local and global systems,
at the centroidal and or Gauss points, for the top,
middle and bottom surfaces. B) 3-D Beam
Element, this is a two node prismatic element
including stretching, bending and torsion effects. It
has six degrees of freedom per node (UX, UY, UZ,
ROTX, ROTY, ROTZ). The local x-axis of the
element is along the centroidal axis.

Fig. 3: Plan view of Inner Containment Dome

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4.3 LOADS

The following loads are predominantly acting

during accidental condition. Therefore, these four
load cases are used in this analysis
 Dead load
 Prestress
 pressure
 Temperature

4.4 LOAD COMBINATIONS

Material properties obtained from the literature by

NOH et al., Analysis of Prestressed Concrete
Containment Vessel (PCCV) under Severe
Accident Loading.
Table 1 Load combination for pressure
with temperature cases
Fig. 4.2: Plan showing Angular locations at the
Edge of SG Openings load case Load combination
Case 1 Dead load + prestress
4.2 Material Properties
Case 2 Dead load + prestress +
pressure + temperature
The present study beam model is
fully based on layer concept. Material
V. MATERIAL NON LINEAR ANALYSIS
number for each material is numbered as
5.1 Non linear finite element analysis
1. Steel linear
2. Rebar
3. Pre stressing tendon Finite Element non-linear analyses are carried out
4. Concrete by using the SAP2000N finite element program to
predict the ultimate pressure capacity and the
failure mode of the PHWR prestressed concrete
containment dome nuclear power plant.

5.1.1 Geometric non linear analysis

a) Large deflection and rotation

b) Stress stiffening

5.1.2 Material non linear analysis

Fig.5. Typical Elasto-Plastic Behaviour

Fig.4.3. Configuration of tendons in meridian and hoop
directions

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5.2 Analysis result 8. Variation of stresses at top and bottom layers

5.2.1 Deformed Shape of all the load cases of the ring beam.
9. Both vertical displacement and stress contours
When a prestressed concrete containment dome is have been found to be almost identical for two
subjected to various types of loadings such as dead,
types of mesh. There are differences in stress
prestress, pressure and temperature, stresses are
induced in the structure which leads to values only at the locations of hatch
corresponding strains and deformations in the connection near the edges of SG openings in
structure. SAP2000 can show the vertical(y- the case of Dead Load + prestress + pressure
component) deformation of the structure for an + temperature. This comparison is well
applied load. indicative of the trend of linear behavior of
the PSC IC dome within the framework of
assumptions made.
10. The analysis also shows significantly more
shear stress in the dome with openings. These
shear stresses are largest along the edges of
the opening; however the magnitude of the
shear stresses is very low and will not cause
delaminating (even locally).

REFERENCES
1. Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, (2007),
“Containment System Design for Pressurized
Heavy Water Reactors”, Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board, Mumbai, India.
2. Henry TY Yang., (1969), “A Finite Element
Stress Analysis of the Vertical Buttress of a
Nuclear Containment Vessel”, Gilbert
Fig.5.2. Deformation due to dead + prestress + pressure +
Associates, Inc., Reading, Pennsylvania,
temperature
USA.
3. Hsuan Teh Hu., (2005), “Nuclear Reactor
Types: An Environment& Energy Fact File”,
VI. CONCLUSION IEE, Published by the Institution of Electrical
1. The deformation of the IC dome is mainly due Engineers, Mumbai.
to vertical displacement components. 4. Hsuan-Teh Hu and Yu-Hon Lin., (2006),
2. The response of the dome is well within “Ultimate Analysis of PWR Prestressed
Concrete Containment Subjected to Internal
elastic limits. Pressure”, Department of Civil Engineering,
3. The dome is predominantly under National Cheng Kung University, University
compression excepting for some local regions. Road, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.
4. The interface zone adjacent to the cylindrical 5. Jeffrey Smith. A., (2001), “Capacity of
plates of the SG openings is predominantly Prestressed Concrete Containment Vessels
under compression excepting for the indicated with Prestressing Loss”, Prepared by Sandia
National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New
possible transverse slip over symmetrically
Mexico and Livermore, California.
disposed regions. 6. Krishanaraju.N., (1981), “Prestressed
5. Maximum vertical displacement of the dome Concrete”.
under DL+prestress is: 45% higher than that 7. Murali Mohan, Sekhar K. Chakrabarti, Prabir
under DL+prestress+pressure. C. Basu and Siddhartha Ghosh., (2000),
6. The magnitude of maximum compressive “Study of the Linear Behavior of a PSC
principal stress is within the linear elastic Containment Dome with Large Openings”,
Civil and Structural Engineering Division,
limits of the material, except for some high
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai,
values in the case of DL+prestress occurring India.
at cable anchorage locations. 8. Nuclear Energy Agency, (2005), “The
7. Significant tensile principal stress has been International Standard Containment Capacity
observed to occur in some specific locations Report”, Nuclear Energy Agency, Committee
at the edges of SG openings. on the Safety of Nuclear Installations.

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