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Title: Component fragilities. Data collection, analysis and interpretation

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6134955

As part of the component fragility research program sponsored by the US NRC, BNL is involved in establishing seismic fragility levels for various nuclear power plant equipment with emphasis on electrical equipment. To date, BNL has reviewed approximately seventy test reports to collect fragility or high level test data for switchgears, motor control centers and similar electrical cabinets, valve actuators and numerous electrical and control devices, e.g., switches, transmitters, potentiometers, indicators, relays, etc., of various manufacturers and models. BNL has also obtained test data from EPRI/ANCO. Analysis of the collected data reveals that fragility levels can best be described by a group of curves corresponding to various failure modes. The lower bound curve indicates the initiation of malfunctioning or structural damage, whereas the upper bound curve corresponds to overall failure of the equipment based on known failure modes occurring separately or interactively. For some components, the upper and lower bound fragility levels are observed to vary appreciably depending upon the manufacturers and models. For some devices, testing even at the shake table vibration limit does not exhibit any failure. Failure of a relay is observed to be a frequent cause of failure of an electrical panel or a system. An extensive amount of additional fregility or high level test data exists.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH00016
OSTI ID:
6134955
Report Number(s):
BNL-NUREG-37333; CONF-8510173-47; ON: TI86005252
Resource Relation:
Conference: 13. water reactor safety research information meeting, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, 22 Oct 1985
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English