ANRC-BNLbenchmarkevaluationofseismicanalysismethodsfornon-classicallydampedcoupledsystemsOriginalResearchArticle

UndertheauspicesoftheU.S.NuclearRegulatoryCommission(NRC),BrookhavenNationalLaboratory(BNL)developedacomprehensiveprogramtoevaluatestate-of-the-artmethodsandcomputerprogramsforseismicanalysisoftypicalcouplednuclearpowerplant(NPP)systemswithnon-classicaldamping.Inthisprogram,fourbenchmarkmodelsofcoupledbuilding-piping/equipmentsystemswithdifferentdampingcharacteristicsweredevelopedandanalyzedbyBNLforasuiteofearthquakes.TheBNLanalysiswascarriedoutbytheWilson-θtimedomainintegrationmethodwiththesystem-dampingmatrixcomputedusingasynthesisformulationaspresentedinacompanionpaper[Nucl.Eng.Des.(2002)].Thesebenchmarkproblemsweresubsequentlydistributedtoandanalyzedbyprogramparticipantsapplyingtheiruniquelydevelopedmethodsandcomputerprograms.Thispaperisintendedtoofferaglimpseattheprogram,andprovideasummaryofmajorfindingsandprincipleconclusionswithsomerepresentativeresults.