Effects of characteristic parameters of isolation system on seismic response of isolated nuclear power plants

Seismic isolation is increasingly being used in both traditional and industrial structures for its ability to reduce structural responses while effectively protecting systems and components, such as machinery. After applying isolation, the standardize design can be achieved during seismic design of nuclear power plant. However, the seismic response of nuclear structure with different isolation characteristic parameters under different ground motions has not been fully studied. In this paper, a new generation passive nuclear power plant model was simulated with finite element method. The acceleration response, deformation, seismic mitigation efficiency, and response discreteness of nuclear structures with different isolation characteristic parameters were analyzed. The effect degree of isolation characteristic parameters on seismic response of nuclear structures was investigated. Performance spaces are introduced as an alternate method for evaluating responses of nuclear structures. The results show that isolation systems largely reduce both the mean value and discreteness of seismic response of nuclear structures.