Seismic analysis of liquid storage container in nuclear reactors

Seismic analysis of liquid storage containers is always difficult in the seismic design of nuclear reactor equipment. The main reason is that the liquid will generate significant seismic loads under earthquake. These dynamic liquid loads usually form the main source of the stresses in the container. For this kind of structure–fluid coupling problem, some simplified theoretical methods were usually used previously. But this cannot satisfy the requirements of engineering design. The Finite Element Method, which is now full developed and very useful for the structural analysis, is still not mature for the structure–fluid coupling problem. This paper introduces a method suitable for engineering mechanical analysis. Combining theoretical analysis of the dynamic liquid loads and finite element analysis of the structure together, this method can give practical solutions in the seismic design of liquid storage containers.