AxisymmetricmodelingofprestressingtendonsinnuclearcontainmentdomeOriginalResearchArticle

Simpleaxisymmetricmodelingofanuclearcontainmentbuildinghasbeenoftenemployedinpracticetoestimatestructuralbehaviorfortheaxisymmetricloadingssuchasinternalpressure.Inthiscase,theprestressingtendonsplacedinthecontainmentdomeshouldbeaxisymmetricallyapproximated,sincemostdometendonsarenotarrangedinanaxisymmetricmanner.Someproceduresareproposedthatcanrealisticallyimplementtheactualthree-dimensionaltendonstiffnessandprestressingeffectintotheaxisymmetricmodel.Prestressingtendons,whicharearrangedintwoorthreewaysdependingonacontainmenttype,areconvertedintotheequivalentlayertoconsiderthestiffnesscontributioninmeridionalandhoopdirections.Inordertoreflecttheprestressingeffect,theequivalentloadmethodandtheinitialstressmethodaredevised,respectively,andthecorrespondingloadsorstressesarederivedintermsoftheaxisymmetricmodel.Theproposedschemesareverifiedthroughsomenumericalexamplescomparingtheresultsoftheaxisymmetricmodelstothoseoftheactualthree-dimensionalmodel.Theexamplesshowthattheproperleveloftheprestressinginthehoopdirectionoftheaxisymmetricdomeplaysanimportantroleintracingtheactualbehaviorinducedbytheprestressing.Finally,somecorrectionfactorsarediscussedthatcanfurtherimprovetheanalysisresults.