The shaking table experiments on sliding and overturning of CAP1400 spent fuel storage rack with the effect of FSI

Under seismic condition, for CAP1400 (a new nuclear reactor type designed by China) spent fuel storage rack; water can flow through the channels between the rack storage cells. Unfortunately, the fluid structure interaction (FSI) effect for such perforate structure has not been studied in depth. In engineering approach of spent fuel rack's structural analysis, the perforations are ignored, leading to an over-conservative added mass. To study the friction coefficient and FSI effect for CAP1400 rack, a series of shaking table experiments had been carried out using a reduced-scale spent fuel rack model in a water tank (spent fuel pool model). To derive the friction coefficient between rack and tank wall, sweep frequency tests were carried out in shallow-water-level condition and deep-water-level condition. Large uncertainty was found in the measurements of friction coefficient; consequently, the data were organized by statistical methods. Moreover, the relationship between gap size and fluid pressure were studied. Finally, the response to seismic loading was studied in different gap size conditions. The research can provide the basic input parameter for the dynamic analysis for spent fuel storage rack; moreover, the experimental seismic response can be the benchmark for dynamic analysis of CAP1400 spent fuel rack.