Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering

Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering

Comparing E-CMS and CMS for Nuclear Design Spectra

Document Type : Structural Earthquake Engineering

Authors
Arak University
Abstract
The target spectrum, which has been used most frequently for the seismic analysis of structures, is the Uniform Hazard Spectrum (UHS). The joint occurrence of the spectral values in different periods, in the development of UHS, is a key assumption that remains questionable. Baker et al [3-4] have recently developed the Conditional Mean Spectrum (CMS) as an alternative for UHS. The CMS provides the expected response spectrum, conditioned on the occurrence of the target spectral acceleration value in the period of interest. It is shown that CMS can be accounted as an improvement of UHS. The correlation between the Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) and the spectral acceleration values is investigated in the current study and a newer form of the target spectrum has been proposed. It is shown that the emerged new spectrum, named Eta-based Conditional Mean Spectrum (E-CMS), is more efficient than the conventional CMS in order to modify the UHS. The nuclear industry design guidelines (i.e. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Guide 1.165) provide an alternative procedure for defining the design spectrum, which has been compared with using the proposed E-CMS. The results show that the alternative procedure may not be conservative for stiff structures such as nuclear facilities.
Keywords

Volume 14, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
Summer 2012
Pages 159-164

  • Receive Date 29 September 2014
  • Accept Date 26 December 2020
  • Publish Date 01 July 2012