Nuclear

Nuclear structures such as containment vessels need to withstand loads coming from winds, earthquakes, and any accidental mishaps that might occur during their working life. Loading due to accidents is generally the most critical design load for containment structures—they need to remain leak-proof when subjected to high internal pressures. Designs for the components of the internal nuclear reactors on the other hand need to take into account radiation effects on material properties. Often the components undergo creep deformations since they are subjected to high stresses over long periods of time, and these must also be taken into account when creating safe designs for nuclear reactors and components.

The Abaqus Unified FEA suite from SIMULIA provides realistic simulation solutions that allow you to accurately predict structural strength and deformation in the large displacement nonlinear regime. Abaqus pre- and postprocessing technology coupled with its sophisticated solvers provide a complete and reliable solution for analyzing nuclear structures and reactor components. You may perform static, modal, and dynamic analyses using numerous material models under different loading, boundary, and contact conditions. A wide range of creep models are also available to allow the measurement of creep displacements through quasi-static analyses. Sequentially coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical analyses can also be performed to predict the effects of long-term storage of nuclear waste in underground repositories.

Solution Capabilities

• A wide range of material models including metal plasticity, creep, geotechnical, and concrete damage
• Nonlinear implicit and explicit dynamic analysis capabilities
• Modal and buckling analysis, response spectrum analysis, random response analysis
• Embedded elements and rebars with pre-stress for modeling reinforcement
• Quasi-static analysis, coupled thermo-mechanical and stress-diffusion analyses