Application of seismic isolation system is essential to reduce the seismic force not only for the horizontal direction but also for vertical direction since the component installed to the Sodium-Cooled-Fast-Reactor (SFR) has thin-walled structures to reduce thermal stress. The authors have performed static loading tests using a half-scale thick rubber bearing to investigate ultimate properties include breaking, and confirmed that the thick rubber bearings have sufficient performance compared to the conventional thin rubber bearings.
The present paper describes the evaluation of analytical models for the thick rubber bearing by following two approaches based on the obtained test results.
a) Spring model
Horizontal and vertical spring models, which are employed to the non-linear seismic response analysis, are compiled to examine applicability of conventional analytical model for thin rubber bearing. In addition, the horizontal and vertical spring models are modified, as a suitable non-linear analytical model for the thick rubber bearing. For the horizontal direction, hysteresis rules composed of multiple lines considering slip effect are modified to correspond to the hysteresis characteristics obtained test results. Hysteresis rules under vertical direction composed of multiple lines in consideration of effect on the shear strain due to horizontal seismic response is constructed.
b) 3D FEM model
The prediction methods of break strain for thin rubber bearings as the conventional rubber bearing have been examined, which have been proposed by the authors as 3D finite element analysis in consideration of the hyper elasticity. To improve suitable the above mentioned methods for the corresponding the restoring force characteristics for thick rubber bearing, 3D FEM model containing a higher-order elements was constructed to express the skeleton curve as restoring force characteristics up to the breaking points. The validity of the constructed 3D FEM model was investigated comparing breaking test results under horizontal and vertical direction. Consequently, the analytical results demonstrated that the skeleton curves up to the horizontal and vertical breaking points can express with constructed 3D FEM model. In addition, this paper describes the criteria with respect to the breaking strain by utilizing the analytical results.
