Seismic Hazard and Damages—Avoiding Disaster Through Simulation, Experiment, and Experience

Abstract

This paper deals with the role of proving tests and a large shaking test facility for equipment and piping systems in conjunction with the development of aseismic design in the field of mechanical engineering, especially for nuclear power plants in Japan. To avoid seismic disaster and damage of equipment and piping systems as well as liquid storages, we had to differentiate the seismic design procedure in mechanical engineering from that for building and civil engineering structures. For this process, the dynamic analysis in this field is more significant than for other fields. The author has been trying to develop aseismic design since the design stage of the first nuclear power plant in 1958 based on his experience as a specialist of mechanical vibration. In the early 1970s, shaking tables were developed for this purpose in Japan. The largest one in Japan is a 1000-ton 2-D table. After the 1995 Kobe earthquake, we have been developing a new 1200-ton 3-D shaking table. In the paper, the author discusses the necessity of such a facility and presents a new concept of a numerical shaking table.