Recent research on methodology for seismic qualification of nuclear power plant equipment

A brief review of methodology and a description of some related recent research are given for seismic qualification of equipment. Some of the developments allow a better satisfaction of current requirements and a reduction in unnecessary conservatism. Examples include the use of response spectrum to power transformations and various parameters for synthesizing more suitable test waveforms. Other developments allow a comparison of earlier simple test procedures with recent more complex criteria by means of a vibration equivalence concept based on fragility. (orig.)