DESIGN CRITERIA FOR PRESTRESSED CONCRETE PRESSURE-VESSELS FOR HIGH-TEMPERATURE REACTORS

This paper summarizes the work on design criteria for concrete structures of Prestressed Concrete Reactor Vessels (PCRVs), which has been carried out since 1984 by a couple of competent institutions. After some basic considerations on the safety demands on PCRVs, especially their Prestressed Concrete Structure (PCS), and the consequences for an elevated level of quality to be ensured by the design criteria, an impression is given, first, by what means a higher quality standard is gained with respect to selection of materials and specification of material data in comparison to the usual building industry and what kind of criteria on this behalf should be fixed in a PCRV code. As a further quality increasing feature, the specific demands on design analysis as practised according to the present state of science and as to be treated within a code are discussed. This concerns analyses for steady state and transient temperatures as well as stress and strain analyses for service and ultimate load conditions. It is outlined to what degree calculation models should be detailed, which includes statements about admissible idealizations. As a central topic the question is discussed in what way the ultimate load capacity has to be evaluated, thereby presenting results of some investigations pointing out the conditions under which the design is determined by the different kinds of ultimate load conditions. Finally, some reflections on the demands on monitoring the PCS behaviour during its lifetime and on several questions still to be answered in this field are expressed.