Finite Element Analysis of Control Panel Assembly For Earth Quakes

Equipment used at nuclear power plants requires robust and reliable designs because in case of disaster, such as earthquake, small damage can turn into an unpredictable result. Control panel assembly structure used at nuclear power plants is important because of such reason. Seismic technology can be roughly categorized into analysis and experiment. The ideal way is testing the final product but this has to make the actual prototype, which is expensive and time consuming task. Like many other engineering processes, finite element method was used, instead. In order to conduct seismic analysis, it is necessary to perform modal analysis and calculate response spectrum from the FRS. The primary objective of this project includes evaluating the seismic response of the system under Operation Basis Earthquake (OBE) and Safe shutdown earthquake (SSE) and validating the results as per ASME section-III, sub-section NF for the above load cases. The response spectra used for OBE and SSE in X, Y, Z directions are given as input using ANSYS software. Modal analysis was performed before doing the response spectrum analysis to study the fundamental frequencies of the structure. The geometric model of the control panel assembly structure was developed using NXCAD software. Keyword-Earthquakes, Operating Basis Earthquake (OBE), Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE), Zero Period Acceleration (ZPA).