Estimating Seismic Demands of a Single-Door Electrical Cabinet System Based on the Performance Limit-State of Concrete Shear Wall Structures

The electrical cabinet systems in power plants are critical non-structural components to maintaining sustainable operation and preventing unexpected accidents during extreme events. This system consists of various electrical equipment such as relays, circuit breakers, and switches enclosed by a steel cabinet for the protection of the equipment. The cabinet systems are installed in and protected by structures so that the cabinet's behavior is totally dependent on the behavior of the structures when subjected to an earthquake. Therefore, it is essential to qualify the seismic performance of the cabinet system considering the effect of the primary structure where the electrical cabinet system is mounted. In addition, with the implementation of ASCE-43 design standards for nuclear facilities, facility design allowing nonlinear behavior has gained greater attention in nuclear power plants, and research on how the response of the cabinet varies according to allowable damage levels of structures is needed. In this study, Finite Element (FE) models of a single-door electrical cabinet and concrete shear wall structure validated through experimental data are used for a decoupled analysis to estimate the seismic demands of the electrical cabinet. Three different earthquake loadings, referred to as EQ#13, #17, and #19, used in the SMART-2013 project are selected to obtain floor responses of the concrete structure, and the loadings lead to different levels of damage (minor, moderate, and major damage, respectively) to the structure. Finally, the floor responses based on levels of the damage to the primary structure are applied to the electrical cabinet system as input loadings for the decoupled analysis. Thus, this study presents the effects of the cabinet elevation and performance limit-state for concrete shear wall structures on the response of the electrical cabinet, and it shows that while the difference in seismic demands is not significant in the minor and moderate damage states, a meaningful difference occurs in the degree of the major damage state.

Automated summary

The electrical cabinet systems in power plants are critical components for maintaining sustainable operation and preventing accidents. This study evaluates the seismic demands of the cabinet system and investigates the effect of the primary structure's damage level on the response of the cabinet.