Damage evaluation to containment of nuclear power plant subjected to impact loading of different aircraft

For the safety evaluation of a nuclear power plant (NPP) containment, actions under various operations and extreme conditions, shall be assessed. This study uses a finite element (FE) approach to present the structural behaviour of nuclear containment under different aircraft. A simplified model of an actual BWR Mark-III nuclear containment of 67 m height and 42 m inner diameter is fully modelled. To evaluate the damages due to aircraft crashes, four types of aircraft have been considered (Boeing 707–320, Phantom F4, Airbus A320 and Boeing 767–400). The behaviour of structure such as stress, plastic strain, deformation, damage and scabbing area, are investigated. The collision angle is normal to the target surface. The response of concrete is characterised using the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model, while the response of the reinforcement is predicted by the Johnson-Cook model to account for their respective material properties. The finite element analysis of the model has been done using ABAQUS (explicit) to describe the actions of the NPP. The results showed the most damaging aircraft is Boeing 767–400 and Phantom F4 is responsible for maximum deformation while minimum deformation was found for Airbus A320. Finally, it is concluded local damage was observed for all the aircrafts.