A simplified method to evaluate restoring force characteristics of reactor buildings

This paper is to propose a discrete beam model analysis to evaluate the non-linear restoring force characteristics of reinforced concrete nuclear reactor buildings macroscopically for the seismic design. In this method, overall deformation of each component such as wall or slab is considered to consist of shearing deformation and bending deformation. A rotational deformation of wall due to the elongation and slip of reinforcing bars from foundation is also considered. Each deformation is evaluated by a discrete beam model based on the non-linear stress-strain relationship estimated by the test results. Examples of verification studies to compare the computed results and the test results on the component scaled models and the scaled reactor building models are also described