Isolation performance of a small modular reactor using 1D periodic foundation

Photonic crystals or man-made periodic materials own band gap characteristics, which can block the elastic wave propagate through the structure and can be used to mitigate the seismic waves. Firstly, the frequency band gap of a one-dimensional (1D) layered periodic foundation composed of reinforced concrete (RC) and rubber is derived by using the Floquet-Bloch theory. Secondly, a scaled small modular reactor (SMR) building was fabricated and carried out to evaluate the attenuation domain characteristics and isolation effectiveness of one-dimensional periodic foundation (1D PF) through shaking table tests. In addition, the finite element models (FEM) of SMR with 1D PF and reinforced concrete foundation (RCF) were established to verify the efficiency and the isolation mechanism of the 1D PF. Finally, the numerical and experimental results show that the 1D PF can effectively mitigate the seismic response and does not increase the relative displacement with a little overturning moment when the predominant frequencies of the seismic waves fall into the frequency band gap of the 1D PF.

Automated summary

This study validates the effectiveness of one-dimensional periodic foundation in reducing seismic response through experiments and numerical simulations, demonstrating its ability to act when seismic wave frequencies fall within the band gap range.