Experimental and numerical study on ultimate bearing capacity of pressure cabin for nuclear power ships. (15th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Shuangxi; Gu, Ziwen; Shen, Wei; Lei, Qiheng; Tang, Weiguo
• Is Part Of: Ocean engineering. Volume 218(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-12-15
• Subjects: Nuclear power ship -- Pressure resistant structure -- Ultimate strength -- Scale model test -- Nonlinear finite element analysis; Ocean engineering -- Periodicals; Ocean engineering; Periodicals; 620.4162
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2020.108123
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0029-8018

Abstract

Abstract: With the continuous development of nuclear power application, the structural design and verification of pressure-resistant cabin has become the key technology for nuclear-powered ships or nuclear-powered icebreakers. Through the design of reinforced pressure-resistant structure, the ultimate strength of the pressure-resistant cabin was investigated by experimental analysis and nonlinear finite element analysis. Moreover, the load-displacement curve of the cabin structure and the progressive failure mode were obtained through the numerical analysis of the full-scale model. Based on the similarity criterion, the corresponding scale models were designed and tested. Compared with the numerical results of the scale model, it is found that the failure mode in the tests are consistent with that in the numerical analysis. For the cabin structure of nuclear-powered ship, especially the prismatic pressure vessel, the corner is the key location for stress concentration. In order to comprehensively improve the bearing capacity and weight reduction of the cabin structure, the diagonally stiffened optimization model is proposed and further verified numerically. Highlights: Nonlinear finite element analysis on ultimate bearing capacity of pressure cabin for nuclear power ships was carried out. Through the experimental study, the failure process of the pressure-bearing cabin under internal pressure load was obtained. Relevant structural design and optimization provide a reference for the design of pressure cabin for nuclear power ships.