SC Solutions had strong participation at the 25th SMiRT conference, held in Charlotte, NC from August 4 – 9, 2019. Together with other nuclear industry leaders and engineers from around the world, SC Solutions engineers are contributing to new ideas for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology. Over the course of five days, SC staff presented several papers and special sessions on topics such as base isolation, soil-structure interaction, and building pounding with an overall focus on driving innovation for safe, reliable and efficient nuclear energy.
The presentations and special sessions with an SC contribution included:
- Dr. Iman Talebinejad presented An Enhanced Equivalent Linear Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis Approach for Seismic Applications, proposing alternative techniques to incorporate physical phenomena that are commonly neglected in conventional linear SSI analysis.
- Dr. Ben Kosbab co-authored Cost Basis for Utilizing Seismic Isolation in Nuclear Power Plants.
- Ms. Natalie Doulgerakis chaired an interactive panel discussion Addressing the Nonlinear Soil-Structure Interaction V&V Challenge seeking stakeholder feedback for a new DOE grant project via Audience Response Keypads, while Dr. Payman Tehrani and Dr. Ben Kosbab presented their expert views in this field.
- Dr. Julio Garcia presented Soil-Pile-Structure Interaction Analysis: Implementation of Flexible Alternative Theoretical Approach in SASSI Framework which explains the theoretical basis of the new SC-PILE feature of SC-SASSI, and co-authored the companion paper that provides corresponding technical benchmark testing results: Benchmark Study on Impedance Functions of Large Pile Foundations.
- Dr. Garcia also presented a paper on Structure-Soil-Structure Interaction Effects: A Case Study Comparing Two Approaches where the “cascade” approach was compared with a more rigorous approach using fully coupled models.
- Mr. Kaniel Tilow presented highlights from recent SC Solutions work on Application of Seismic Ground Motion Incoherency Effects in SASSI on Soil Sites with Multiple Foundations, providing evidence that combining both SSSI and incoherency effects in SASSI-based analysis is feasible.
- Dr. Asa Bassam gave two presentations: one on A Case Study on The Structural Analysis and Fragility Calculation Due to Seismic Impact, and the second on Consideration of Non-Uniform Embedment on The Response of Nuclear Power Plant, demonstrating how one can address challenging structural response behaviors using rational engineering approaches.
- Dr. Ben Kosbab participated in a Special Session providing an update on ASCE 4 & 43 standards, presenting the topic of Performance-Based Evaluation of Nuclear Structures Subjected to Extreme Ground Motion.
SC Solutions enjoyed once again being part of SMiRT and is very proud to be contributing to the advancement of the nuclear industry. We look forward to continuing to participate in open and collaborative discussions at forums like SMiRT 25.
More information about the SMiRT 25 conference can be found here.
