Nuclear power plants are responsible for the spent fuel management. Closely spaced racks submerged in a pool are generally used to store and to cool the nuclear fuel. A free-standing design allows to isolate the rack base from the pool floor and therefore to reduce the impact of seismic loads. However, the seismic response of free-standing racks is difficult to predict accurately using theoretical models given the uncertainties associated with inertial forces, geometrical nonlinearities and fluid-structure interactions. An ad-hoc analysis methodology has been developed to overcome these difficulties in a cost-effective way, but some dispersion of results still remains. In order to validate the analysis methodology, experimental tests are carried out on a scaled 2-rack mock-up equipped with fake fuel assemblies. The two rack units are submerged in free-standing conditions inside a rigid pool tank and subjected to accelerations on a unidirectional shaking table. A hydraulic jack induces a given acceleration time-history while a set of sensors and gauges monitor the transient response of the system. Accelerometers track the acceleration of the pool and units. Load cells measure the impact forces on the rack supports as well as the fluid forces at the centre of the rack faces. Video cameras record the transient displacements and rotations. Results provide evidence of a water-coupling effect leading to an in-phase motion of the units.
2. Alberto Gonzalez, Luis Costas and Arturo
González
Vibration tests of an
underwater free-standing 2-
rack system
3. Free-standing spent fuel racks
Spent Fuel Pool
6x4 racks
Fuel storage
rack unit
~4m
~12m
Nuclear Fuel
assemblies
Steel structures designed to store nuclear spent fuel assemblies removed
from the nuclear power reactor.
• Slightly spaced by only a few centimeters,
• free-standing conditions,
• submerged in water.
4. Spent Fuel Pool
Fuel assembly
Rack unit
Physical model
• 2-rack mockup → interactions and hydrodynamic coupling forces.
• Geometrical scale = 1/3 ; acceleration and density scale = 1/1
• Multiple testing configurations: clearance, fuel loading distribution, friction
coefficients, ground accelerations, etc.
Racks 2 units
Rack cells 3x4 units
Rack length 1919 mm
Rack width 696 mm
Rack height 1774 mm
Rack-pool wall clearance 40 mm
Rack-rack clearance 33 mm
Pool liner
Fuel
dummies
Rigid pool
Load
Cell
Rack 2
Rack 1
Rack support
Hydraulic jack
Vibration table Pool coaming
5. Data acquisition system
CAM
R2 P1
P2
P3
P4P7
P6
P5
A1
LC1
R1
Z
X
CAM
• An accelerometer (AC1) boarded on the vibration table.
• A load cell (LC1) placed at the contact between the rack support and the pool
floor.
• Pressure sensors (P1-P7) record the hydrodynamic pressures at different
locations on the rack sides as well as on the pool walls,
• Video cameras (CAM) attached to the vibration table film the motion of respective
targets through transparent windows on the pool walls. They return the 3D relative
displacements and rotations of the rack units.
12. Conclusions
• Sliding response: units slide over the pool floor following the pool shakings.
• In-phase motion: separation between units slightly evolves.
• Hydrodynamic pressures between units are a fraction of the external pressures
raised between racks and pool walls.
• Pressure falls (up to 25%) near the rack edges as a consequence of the loss of
confinement of the streamlines. A 3D analysis is required to assess the real
pressure distribution.
• Divergences between vibration tests and numerical analysis cumulate from the
beginning and propagate throughout the seismic duration. Fortunately, only the
macroscopic behavior is needed for a proper rack design.
13. The TRUSS ITN project (http://trussitn.eu) has
received funding from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation
programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie
grant agreement No. 642453
Thanks for your attention
