Preliminary computations for a Representative Structural Volume of nuclear containment buildings
Résumé
The behaviour of a Representative Structural Volume for containment buildings of 1300 and 1450 MWe nu-clear power plants is studied. First computations are considered to investigate the fracture mode of the struc-ture and especially the role of the prestressing tendons. Cables initiate the development of a localized me-chanical damage and help its propagation. The preliminary computations also underline the need for an ex-perimental validation to further investigate the issue of the mechanical degradation. That is why an experi-mental device is proposed and described. As the new structure is supposed to represent the containment building of a 1450 MWe nuclear power plant, new computations are carried out with the finite element code Cast3M. They confirm the key role of the prestressed tendons in the development of damage.