Nuclear concrete containment buildings typically consist of pre-stressed concrete. The pre-stressing tendons are utilized to enforce a compressive state of stress to ensure that cracks do not occur in the containment structure. The tendons are thereby an important part of the containment building and important for its structural integrity. In many cases, these tendons are grouted with cement grout to prevent corrosion. This results however in that it is not possible to directly assess the tendons or re-tension these if significant long term losses occurs. The drawback with cement grouted tendons is, thereby, that it is not possible to directly measure the current tendon force. One conventional method to assess the status of the containment building, and thereby indirectly the tendons, is to perform pressure tests. The pressure tests are performed where the pressure in the containment building is increased. The response of the containment can after this be determined based on measurements of displacements and strains. The purpose of this project is to perform simulations of a pressure test of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) that is common in Sweden and Finland. Based on these simulations, the response of the containment building is determined and suggestions are made regarding suitable placement of measuring sensors. The suggested instrumentation has been divided into different types of sensors defined as detectors and support sensors. The detectors are needed to monitor the structural response of the containment while the support sensors are needed to give sufficient input to numerical analyses. It is suggested that detector sensors are placed at four vertical positions and at three points along the perimeter. At these locations, it is recommended that displacement sensors, strain gauges and temperature sensors are installed. In addition, it is also recommended that the relative radial displacement between the intermediate slab and the cylinder wall is monitored. As support sensors, it is recommended that the ambient temperature and relative humidity is measured since these constitute important boundary conditions for numerical analyses and thereby prediction of the structural behaviour.
QC 20181009