A Technical Paper Explains the Effect of Earthquakes on Electrical Equipment

In all countries there is either a zone of significant seismic activity or installations which require high security in order to operate (e.g. nuclear power stations, which generally have low seismic activity). In both cases the electrical and control and monitoring equipment must assure their safety functions correctly.

This technical paper aims to facilitate dialogue between operators and specialists. After briefly summarizing the earthquake phenomena and the way in which they are specified, the author presents the theoretic approach required for seismic withstand capabilities to be taken into account at the design stage. Both design and qualification are, today, increasingly requiring numerical analysis and, as a result, powerful scientific and technical data processing methods.

Contents

Earthquakes

Causes - location

Propagation of seismic waves

Characteristics of vibrations generated at ground level

Intensity and magnitude

Seism characterization

Defining the seismic severity of a site

Reading the response spectrum applicable to a piece of equipment

2. Dynamic behaviour of structures

Brief summary of single degree  of freedom oscillator

Elastic structures degrees of freedom)

 3. Equipment design

Defining objectives

Design principles

Simulation by analysis at design stage

4. Qualification by simulation or test

Introduction

Combined qualification (numerical analysis and experimental tuning)

Qualification by «real size» tests preceded by numerical analysis

Qualification by test

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