The Sliding and Overturning Analysis of Spent Fuel Storage Rack Based on Dynamic Analysis Model

Abstract

Spent fuel rack is the key equipment for the storage of spent fuel after refueling. In order to investigate the performance of the spent fuel rack under the earthquake, the phenomena including sliding, collision, and overturning of the spent fuel rack were studied. An FEM model of spent fuel rack is built to simulate the transient response under seismic loading regarding fluid-structure interaction by ANSYS. Based on D’Alambert’s principle, the equilibriums of force and momentum were established to obtain the critical sliding and overturning accelerations. Then 5 characteristic transient loadings which were designed based on the critical sliding and overturning accelerations were applied to the rack FEM model. Finally, the transient displacement and impact force response of rack with different gap sizes and the supporting leg friction coefficients were analyzed. The result proves the FEM model is applicable for seismic response of spent fuel rack. This paper can guide the design of the future’s fluid-structure interaction experiment for spent fuel rack.