Special Services - earthquake simulation

The earth is shaking. What is already frightening can quickly become dangerous due to unstable buildings, overturning machines and inoperable technologies. In the event of an earthquake, it must be ensured that a nuclear power plant can be shut down safely. To this end, it must be demonstrated, for example, that the pumps of the primary circuit can continue to function during an earthquake. Furthermore, stability must be ensured so that no additional danger arises from machines tipping over.

Created by Dipl.-Ing. (TU) Stefan Merkle

07/27/2021

Picture of Merkle & Partner Earthquake Simulation

Detection methods and standards

Merkle & Partner performs computational stability verifications based on finite element models according to all common seismic codes (UBC 97, EC 8, IBC 2006, KTA 2201, ISO 3010, GOST ) for any kind of buildings, plants, steel structures and machines.

Especially for comparatively soft machines, a simplified approach from the construction field with quasi-static acceleration, which was common in the past, is no longer acceptable. Here, approaches from spectral analysis are helpful, which can also take into account the vibration behavior of higher natural frequencies.