HydraulicbehaviourofarepresentativestructuralvolumeforcontainmentbuildingsOriginalResearchArticle

Forparticularstructureslikecontainmentbuildingsofnuclearpowerplants,thestudyofthehydraulicbehaviourisofgreatconcern.Thesestructuresareindeedthethirdbarrierusedtoprotecttheenvironmentincaseofaccidents.Theevolutionoftheleakingratethroughtheporousmediumiscloselyrelatedtothechangesinthepermeabilityduringtheageingprocessofthestructure.Itisthusessentialtoknowtherelationbetweenconcretedegradationandthetransferpropertywhentheconsequencesofamechanicalloadingonthehydraulicbehaviourhavetobeevaluated.Achainedapproachisdesignedforthispurpose.Themechanicalbehaviourisdescribedbyanelasticplasticdamageformulation,wheredamageisresponsibleforthesofteningevolutionwhileplasticityaccountsforthedevelopmentofirreversiblestrains.Thedryingprocessisevaluatedaccordingtoanon-linearequationofdiffusion.Fromtheknowledgeofthedamageandthedegreeofsaturation,arelationisproposedtocalculatethepermeabilityofconcrete.Finally,thenon-homogeneousdistributionofthehydraulicconductivityisincludedinthehydraulicproblemwhichisinfacttheassociationofthemassbalanceequationforgasphaseandDarcylaw.Fromthismethodology,itisshownhowanindicatorforthehydraulicflowscanbededuced.