Shaking Table Test of a Transfer-Purge Chamber in Nuclear Island Structure

The transfer-purge chamber is an operation room for nuclear fuel transport and purging in a nuclear power plant, which has a demand for structural reliability and radiation protection. The transfer-purge chamber has features such as large curvature, heavy concrete, long overhang, and irregular cross-sections, and it is constructed of double steel plates reinforced concrete (SC) structure. This study performed shaking table tests for a 1:4.5 scale model of the transfer-purge chamber. Three sets of ground motions were input in the scale model in the horizontal and vertical directions to study its structural reliability and seismic performance. Acceleration response and strain response of the structure were analyzed to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of the transfer-purge chamber under the ground motion. The results show that the transfer-purge chamber has great stiffness and short periods. The periods slightly increase with the rise of intensity of seismic ground motions. Under the excitation of ground motions, the dynamic response of the transfer-purge chamber is slight. No obvious deformation or damage occurred on the transfer-purge chamber, and cracking in concrete or buckling on steel plate did not appear. The transfer-purge chamber has excellent seismic performance, and it is sufficiently safe and reliable from a structural perspective.