Jintao Cui

Seismic Response Prediction Method of Cabinet Structures in a Nuclear Power Plant Using Vibration Tests

This paper presents a seismic response prediction method using vibration tests of cabinet-type electrical equipment installed in a nuclear power plant. The proposed method consists of three steps: 1) identification of earthquake-equivalent forces based on lumped-mass system idealization, 2) identification of a state-space-equation model relating input-output measurements obtained from the vibration tests, 3) seismic prediction using the identified earthquake-equivalent forces and the identified state-space-equation. The proposed method is advantageous compared to other methods based on FEM (finite element method) model update, since the proposed method is not influenced by FEM modeling errors. Through a series of numerical verifications on a frame model and 3-dimensional shell model, it was found that the proposed method could be used to accurately predict the seismic responses, even under considerable measurement noise conditions. Experimental validation is needed for further study.

Detection of Manufacturing Defects in Stiffness of CFTA Girder using Static Loading

This paper presents a study on the nonlinear behavior of an innovative bridge girder made from concrete-filled and tied tubular steel arch (CFTA) under static loading. Manufacturing of the CFTA girder may have defects which may highly affect the symmetry and performance of the structure. A simple method is proposed by using stiffness extracted from static test data to detect manufacturing defects of the CFTA girder. A three-dimensional finite element model was used in the numerical analysis in order to verify the method. The proposed method was experimentally validated through static tests of the CFTA girder. The application of the proposed method showed that it is effective in identifying invisible manufacturing defects of the CFTA girder, especially for mass production of a standard type in the factory.

A PROCEDURE FOR GENERATING IN-CABINET RESPONSE SPECTRA BASED ON STATE-SPACE MODEL IDENTIFICATION BY IMPACT TESTING

The in-cabinet response spectrum is used to define the input motion in the seismic qualification of instruments and devices mounted inside an electrical cabinet. This paper presents a procedure for generating the in-cabinet response spectrum for electrical equipment based on in-situ testing by an impact hammer. The proposed procedure includes an algorithm to build the relationship between the impact forces and the measured acceleration responses of cabinet structures by estimating the state-space model. This model is used to predict seismic responses to the equivalent earthquake forces. Three types of structural model are analyzed for numerical verification of the proposed method. A comparison of predicted and simulated response spectra shows good convergence, demonstrating the potential of the proposed method to predict the response spectra for real cabinet structures using vibration tests. The presented procedure eliminates the uncertainty associated with constructing an analytical model of the electrical cabinet, which has complex mass distribution and stiffness.