Damage and vibrations of nuclear power plant buildings subjected to aircraft crash Part II: numerical simulations

Abstract Investigations of large commercial aircraft impact effect on nuclear power plant (NPP) buildings have been drawing extensive attentions, particularly after the 9/11 event, and this paper aims to numerically assess the damage and vibrations of NPP buildings subjected to aircrafts crash. In Part I of present paper, two shots of reduce-scaled model test of aircraft impact on NPP were conducted based on the large rocket sled loading test platform. In the present part, the numerical simulations of both scaled and prototype aircraft impact on NPP buildings are further performed by adopting the commercial program LS-DYNA. Firstly, the refined finite element (FE) models of both scaled aircraft and NPP models in Part I are established, and the model impact test is numerically simulated. The validities of the adopted numerical algorithm, constitutive model and the corresponding parameters are verified based on the experimental NPP model damages and accelerations. Then, the refined simulations of prototype A380 aircraft impact on a hypothetical NPP building are further carried out. It indicates that the NPP building can totally withstand the impact of A380 at a velocity of 150m/s, while the accompanied intensive vibrations may still lead to different levels of damage on the nuclear related equipment. Referring to the guideline NEI07-13, a maximum acceleration contour is plotted and the shock damage propagation distances under aircraft impact are assessed, which indicates that the nuclear equipment located within 11.5 m from the impact point may endure malfunction. Finally, by respectively considering the rigid and deformable impacts mainly induced by aircraft engine and fuselage, an improved Riera function is proposed to predict the impact force of aircraft A380.