Dynamic analysis of auxiliary buildings in nuclear power plants

All nuclear power plants have a large number of auxiliary buildings housing various services and control systems required for the operation of the plant. Illustrative examples are turbine building, control building, service building etc. These buildings are seismically qualified as Class I or Class II structures. Usually, these auxiliary buildings are of low rise type with two or three floors and floor heights varying from five to eight meters and of framed construction in steel or concrete or a combination of both the materials. The floors are usually staggered with large cutouts and may not extend over the full area in plan. Some of the bays are often of double story height with the columns continuous over a story in order to accommodate cranes and other equipment. The structural elements supporting the roof may consist of steel roof trusses instead of beams. The seismic analysis of these structures involves the formulation of the analytical model that can simulate the physical behavior of the structure as close as possible taking into consideration the practical aspects. The criteria adopted to formulate the mathematical model has an important bearing on the evaluated dynamic characteristics and seismic response