Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Path-dependent nonlinear analysis of a concrete reactor containment vessel

subjected to internal pressure using a volume control technique
Ha-Won Song ∗ , Sang-Hyeok Nam, Byul Shim, Sang-Hyo Kim
Department of Civil Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: The so-called volume control method has overcome the drawbacks of the load controlled method and
Received 20 February 2006 the displacement controlled method by adding a pressure node which has an increment of pressure as an
Received in revised form additional degree of freedom to a finite element. In this paper, a nonlinear volume control finite element
1 December 2008
method has been developed for the nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete containment reactor vessels
Accepted 9 December 2008
Available online 8 January 2009
(RCCV) and prestressed concrete containment reactor vessels (PCCV), which can predict the ultimate
internal pressure capacity of a containment reactor vessel subjected to accidental internal pressure. A
Keywords: multi-layered shell element with a pressure node is adopted for analysis by utilizing a path-dependent
Volume control technique crack model, and an orthogonal two-way fixed crack model along with an averaged in-plane 2D RC model
Finite element method
and a prestressing tendon model for the layered shell elements. A reinforced concrete panel subjected to
Concrete containment reactor vessel
biaxial tension, and RCCV and PCCV subjected to internal pressure are also analyzed. Both applicability
Multi-layered shell element
Crack models and validity of the proposed method are shown by comparing the results of volume control method with
both experimental results and existing analysis results.
© 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Reinforced concrete (RC), prestressed concrete (PSC) and steel
reactor containment vessels are various types of nuclear reactor
containment vessels used for avoidance/reduction of nuclear
leakage. Therefore it is important to study the internal pressure
capacity and failure model of a nuclear reactor containment vessel.
An accurate constitutive model is needed for such nonlinear finite
element analysis of RC and PSC nuclear reactor containment
vessels. To overcome the instability due to the softening behavior
of concrete in numerical analysis, a precise prediction of post
crack behavior of concrete containment vessel is required. For this
purpose, a degree of freedom for the in-plane rotation is added
in a layered shell element, and a pressure node [1] which has a
single degree of freedom in a uniform change of pressure on the
finite shell element was proposed for failure analysis of reinforced
concrete shell structures. The volume control method could control
a change in volume due to deformation of the structure and predict
the applied load or pressure so that the post-peak behavior of the
structure after peak pressure could be successfully obtained.
Song et al. [2] established the analysis method of ultimate
pressure capacity through the analysis of 1/6 scale RCCV using a
nonlinear volume control method. It has been reported that the
volume control method could be used efficiently for the analysis
of the ultimate pressure capacity of RCCV in comparison with
analysis results of the load controlled method. Song et al. [3] also
reported that the volume control method could perform a more
stable analysis than the load controlled method or displacement
controlled method in an ultimate load stage on a 1/4 scale PCCV.
But there was a limitation that the method could not solve the
ultimate pressure capacity of a concrete reactor containment
vessel subjected to an accidental pressure increase up to the
ultimate pressure when the structure shows severe nonlinear
behavior due to cracks of concrete and yielding of reinforcing bars
or prestressing tendons. The volume control method proposed in
this paper shows that the nonlinear failure behavior of concrete
reactor containment vessel including ultimate pressure capacity
and failure mode can be solved very efficiently by the proper
corrections on the volume changes considering the applied loading
conditions and/or loading path during the analysis.
The main aim of this paper is to apply the volume control
method to obtain the ultimate pressure capacity and to efficiently
analyze the nonlinear behavior of a reactor containment vessel,
and also to verify the applicability and validity of the analysis
results of the volume control method in comparison with
experimental results as well as analytical results by a well-
established commercial finite element program.
2. Constitutive models
2.1. Constitutive model of reinforced concrete

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 2123 2806; fax: +82 2 364 5300. The constitutive model of RC used in the volume control method
E-mail address: song@yonsei.ac.kr (H.-W. Song). proposed in this paper is an in-plane constitutive model using an
0141-0296/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2008.12.011
 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998 991

Fig. 1. Constitutive model of RC.

Fig. 2. Typical tendon stress–strain curve.

averaged stress–stain relation [4,5]. Fig. 1 shows the constitutive
model of RC.
Also, a path-dependent concrete crack model [5] classifies the
cracks of concrete shell structures as active and dormant cracks.
The former has variable crack width subject to the external load
condition, and the latter is a closed crack. Classifying cracks
by order of development gives a reasonable presentation of the
nonlinear behavior of RC structures.
A path-dependent orthogonal two-way fixed crack model is
applied to the material modeling of cracked concrete in the path-
dependent volume control method. The first induced cracks are
called primary cracks, while the second induced cracks are referred
as secondary cracks. Major cracks are either primary or secondary
cracks with a larger crack width. Since orthogonal two-way cracks
can be managed by a single orthogonal co-ordinate system, the
orthogonal two-way crack model, which deals with two cracks
crossing each at 90◦ , is thought to be suitable as a framework crack
model with great simplicity [6]. The orthogonal two-way fixed
crack model consists of a tension stiffening model, a compression
model, and a crack shear transfer model. Models of RC have been
constructed by combining these models with average behavior
constitutive model of reinforcing bars in concrete [7].
2.2. Constitutive model of steel
A nonlinear material model of tendons is same as a model
with reinforcing bars in concrete, because the average stress–strain
relationship due to bonding effects between concrete and tendons
is not clarified [8].
Real tendons have tension stiffening after yielding as Fig. 2. This
tension stiffening is modeled using a tension model of reinforcing
bars in concrete, and tendons are distributed equally in the shell
element. It has two directional material properties according to
local coordinates of the elements (Fig. 3).
3. Path-dependent volume control method
The volume control method is developed by adding a pressure
node on the shell elements. The pressure node has a single
degree of freedom, namely, the uniform change of pressure of the
finite element. The distinctive characteristic of the shell element
equipped with a pressure node is its capability to simulate the
behavior of shell structures under cyclic loads even for the post-
peak softening range. With the pressure node formulation, one
can control the change in volume enclosed by the shell structures
992 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998

Fig. 3. Prestressed concrete layered shell element.

and determine the required change in load. Thus, the volume of the finite element method.
control method with a pressure node can simulate the behavior Z
including post-peak range more precisely than the conventional Ke Uk = −(p + 1p) N T ndbe + Fe . (8)
load controlled or displacement controlled method. b

Absorbing the term involving 1p into the stiffness matrix in

3.1. Volume change of shell element by loading history
Eq. (8) and inserting an additional equation of Eq. (5) for the change
The volume V of a shell element surrounded by boundary b can in volume, one finds that the element equilibrium equation with
be defined as Eq. (1) using divergence theorem. matrix form is now given by Eq. (9).
Z  Z 
nT · xdb
 Z 
V = (1) Ke N T ndbe   T e
 Uk p N ndb + F
b be
 1p =  be
e
. (9)
Z
T 
where, x = xI , yI , z I and n is a unit vector normal to the element

nT Ndbe 0 1V
boundary. be
The coordinate of shell element subject to external load can be The last row and column in the modified stiffness matrix
updated as correspond to the additional degree of freedom, while the load
x0k = xk + uk (2) vector now contains an additional component 1V . The presence of
where uk is a displacement vector by associated load. 1V in the load vector indicates that one can prescribe the change
A changed volume by loading history can be obtained from in volume enclosed by cylindrical structures and determine the
Eq. (1) using the updated coordinate as Eq. (3). required change in pressure. Thus, by controlling the volume in
Z nonlinear iterative analysis, the required increase or decrease in
0
V = nT · x0k db. (3) pressure along equilibrium paths around the ultimate point of
b pressure can be solved.
Finally, the pseudo-volume of the shell element can be This technique can overcome the instability problem of the
formulated as Eq. (4), and presented as Eq. (5) using shape function conventional load controlled method as well as the difficulty
N. of selecting a local characteristic point to control the local
1V = V 0 − V (4) displacement which governs the global behavior of shell structures
in the conventional displacement controlled method [9]. An
Z
1V = nT · uk db iterative procedure based on the Newton–Raphson method is
b
Z  applied to the volume control technique. The iterations are
T e
= n · Ndb Uk (5) repeated until external volume increment as a load is equilibrated
b
with internal volume change due to associated deformation within
where, uk = NUk . a prescribed tolerance for every step during nonlinear analysis.
Therefore, displacement increment Uk and pressure increment 1p
3.2. Path-dependent volume control method using pressure node
by external volume increment 1V ext can be decided from Eq. (10).
The basic idea of pressure node formulation for a so-called  Z −1 
volume control method is as follows. The pressure node has a single Ke N T ndbe
Z 
N T ndbe + Fe
 
degree of freedom, namely, the uniform change of pressure on a Uk  −p
= Z be . (10)

finite shell element, denoted by 1p [9]. Thus, the multi-layered 1p be

nT Ndbe 0 1Vmext
shell element in this study has 49-degrees-of-freedom by adding be
a pressure node to an 8-noded multi-layered shell element that
has 6-degrees-of-freedom per node. Since the traction increment The internal volume increment 1Viint can be obtained from
1t on element boundaries due to 1p is approximated by −1pn the displacement increment Uk . The internal volume increment
as Eq. (6), the traction term in the element load vector is given by 1Viint and external volume increment 1V ext should satisfy with
Eq. (7). the volume equilibrium equation in the step t + 1t. If not, the
1t ∼
= −1pn (6) divergence volume increment 1ViR is calculated, and iterations are
Z Z repeated after 1ViR is updated by Eq. (11).
N T (t + 1t )dbe = −(p + 1p) N T ndbe . (7)
be be 1ViR = 1Vmext − 1Viint . (11)
A multi-layered shell element with a pressure node can
be formulated as Eq. (8) satisfying equilibrium conditions in Namely, the divergence volume increment is included in 1ViR
pressure–volume relations with a traction term in the load vector the load vector in next iteration step, and displacement increment
 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998 993

Fig. 4. Control volume increment according to applied load.

δ U i+1 and pressure increment δ pi+1 are decided by Eq. (10). The
total displacement increment and total pressure increment in one
step are given by Eq. (12).

U i +1 = U i + δ U i +1
(12)
1pi+1 = 1pi + δ pi+1 .
Iterations are performed for the convergence to 0 of the
divergence volume increment 1ViR , the pressure increment 1p
by volume increment 1V satisfying the equilibrium condition
can be determined in these procedures. So, the solution can
be determined at critical load or pressure changing the sign
of the pressure increment 1p by increasing or decreasing the
volume [10]. The analysis flow of the nonlinear volume control
method is shown is Fig. 4.

4. Application to nuclear reactor containment vessels

4.1. RC panel subjected to biaxial tension Fig. 5. Outline of RC panel subjected to biaxial tension.

The wall of a reactor containment vessel governs the ultimate Table 1

behavior of structure in fatal accidents. An RC panel subjected to Material properties of RC panel [9].
biaxial tension [11] simulating the part of midheight wall in the
Concrete Reinforcing bar
reactor containment vessel is analyzed. Meshes are divided for the
finite element analysis and each mesh consists of 6 concrete layers, fc 41.9 MPa fy 410.0 MPa
ft 2.87 MPa Es 205,744 MPa
2 reinforcing bar layers and 1 tendon layer, and tendon layer is Ec 28,328 MPa
modeled as only vacant duct (Fig. 5).
Material properties of RC panel for the analysis are shown in
Table 1. An analysis outline of an RC panel subjected to biaxial hoop direction at upper and lower layers. Especially the analyzed
tension is shown in Fig. 5. The configuration of a RC panel and finite behavior of reinforcing bars after yielding are compared with ex-
element modeling is shown in Fig. 6. perimental results at upper and lower layers. While the stress at
In Figs. 7–9, experimental results are averaged. The stress–strain same strain is a little conservative, the entire behavior of an RC
curves of reinforcing bars are measured from installed gauges in panel is well predicted.
994 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998

Fig. 6. Configuration of RC panel and finite element modeling.

(a) Top rebar embedded in concrete. (b) Bottom rebar embedded in concrete.

Fig. 7. Average stress–strain curve of rebars inside RC panel in hoop direction [2nd rebar].
 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998 995

(a) Top rebar embedded in concrete. (b) Bottom rebar embedded in concrete.

Fig. 8. Average stress–strain curve of rebars inside RC panel in hoop direction [3rd rebar].

(a) Top rebar embedded in concrete. (b) Bottom rebar embedded in concrete.

Fig. 9. Average stress–strain curve of rebars inside RC panel in hoop direction [at center].

(a) RCCV modeling. (b) Grid modeling of rebar.

Fig. 10. Configuration of 1/6 scale RCCV and finite element modeling.

4.2. RCCV subjected to ultimate internal pressure
A test on an RCCV model was carried out at Sandia National
Lab. (SNL), under the supervision of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) in 1987 [12]. The model is a 1:6 scale of
RCCV. The design pressure Pd of the RCCV model is 0.31 MPa,
and D13 (12.7 mm diameter) reinforcing bar was used at hoop
and meridional directions. The model has penetration parts as 2
equipment hatches (E/H), airlock (A/L) and pipes.
Until RCCV loses its resistance capacity by the formation of
cracks in concrete and yielding of the reinforcing bar, it is assumed
that the liner is preserved without damage in analysis, and the
ultimate capacity of the structure is governed by the yielding of
the main reinforcing bars and tendons. Table 2 shows the material
properties of RCCV and it is the experimental result carried by SNL.
The transition areas such as E/H, A/L, pipes and mat slab are ignored
and entire RCCV is modeled (Fig. 10). The section of the structure
consists of concrete layers, 2 hoop reinforcing layers, 2 meridional
996 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998
(a) At midheight (EL 3.39 m).
Fig. 11. Comparison of behaviors of 1/6 scale RCCV according to consideration of dead load.
Table 2
Material properties of 1/6 scale RCCV [10].
Concrete Reinforcing bar
fc 46.0 MPa fy
ft 3.45 MPa Es
Ec 33,100 MPa ν 0.3
ν 0.2
reinforcing layers and a liner layer using an additional reinforcing
layer.
To induce an initial deformation to the dome, a distributed
load is applied in the gravity direction at first loading stage. The
effect of self weight of the entire behavior of RCCV is compared
with the experimental result. Hu and Liang [13] reported that
the analytically predicted ultimate capacity is 33% less than the
design pressure when ignoring its self weight, and a small internal
pressure capacity was predicted by the uplift of mat slab and much
flexural moment. In this paper, the ultimate internal pressure
capacity of RCCV is analyzed with and without the self weight.
Fig. 11 shows the self weight has the same effect of prestressing
the structure, so consequently it has a strengthening effect and
experimental results can be predicted more precisely.
Fig. 12 shows volume changes of RCCV by the increase of
internal pressure. The volume of RCCV is increased suddenly after 3
times design pressure, and it is conformed that the volume control
method is very effective for the analysis of post-ultimate internal
pressure capacity.
4.3. PCCV subjected to ultimate internal pressure
For a more precise understanding and regulation of a reactor
containment vessel, the model test of 1:4 scale of PCCV was
carried out at SNL, under the supervision of the NRC and Nuclear
Power Engineering Corporation (NUPEC) [14]. Fig. 13 shows a
configuration of a 1:4 scale PCCV and finite element modeling.
The design pressure Pd of the PCCV model is 0.39 MPa. There
are 90 and 18 hoop tendons in the wall and dome, respectively
with 90 hairpin type meridional tendons. All tendons are post-
tensioned. Each tendon consists of 3 strands whose diameter is
13.7 mm. Material properties of the PCCV used in this study are
shown in Table 3. The PCCV model mainly consists of a cylindrical
wall and a spherical dome to resist the membrane tension force
of the wall due to internal pressure. Additional thickening or
reinforcing is provided to strengthen junctions between the wall
and the base and transition areas near an equipment hatch of
the wall. A previous study on the RCCV showed that behavior
of general areas such as the wall and the dome other than the
junctions and the transition area governs the failure behavior of
(b) At springline (EL 6.78 m).
450.0 MPa
214,000 MPa
Fig. 12. Total volume change of 1/6 scale RCCV.
the RCCV. Thus, the failure behavior of the general areas of the
PCCV model is a main concern in this analysis. The basemat is not
modeled because vertical displacement is not predicted due to a
large difference of relative stiffness compared with the wall and the
dome, and boundary conditions are fixed in this area. Fig. 13 shows
a section of wall and the layered shell element, which consists of 9
layers; a steel liner layer, an interior rebar layer, a concrete layer, a
tendon layer, a concrete layer, an exterior rebar layer, and an outer
concrete layer in order from the inner surface.
The analysis results by the volume control method are
summarized at the midheight of the wall, the springline, and
the dome apex. Figs. 14 and 15 show the internal pressure and
displacement relationship of the PCCV model. In this analysis,
the time-dependant material characteristics of concrete such as
creep and shrinkage are not considered. It is recognized that the
creep and shrinkage must have occurred in the real concrete
structure because the test was performed 17 months after the last
pouring of the concrete. So, the discrepancy between analytical and
experimental result at the beginning point (0 pressure) occurred in
the first analysis. This could be estimated as a result from creep and
shrinkage of real concrete structure. Then the start point of each
result is shifted to the origin to neglect the creep and shrinkage
effect of real structures. Therefore, entire behaviors between
analytical and experimental results show good agreement.
The analysis results at the midheight of the wall and the
springline are similar to experimental results and analysis results
of DIANA [3,15]. The material properties used in the analysis with
DIANA are the same as the volume control method. And there is no
effect of boundary condition due to the omission of the basemat in
finite element modeling because the PCCV model has a very stiff
basemat.
There is no sudden increment of displacement like an
experiment at the vertical displacement of the dome apex after
 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998 997

(a) PCCV modeling. (b) Grid modeling of rebar.

Fig. 13. Configuration of 1/4 scale PCCV and finite element modeling.

Table 3
Material properties of 1/4 scale PCCV [12].
Concrete Reinforcing bar Tendon

fc 43.1 MPa fy 480.5 MPa fpy 1860.3 MPa

ft 4.10 MPa Es 205,800 MPa Ep 192,922 MPa
Ec 31,330 MPa ν 0.3 Wobble coef. 0.001/m
ν 0.18 Friction coef. 0.18/rad

(a) At midheight (EL 6.20 m). (b) At springline (EL 10.75 m).

Fig. 14. Behaviors of 1/4 scale PCCV model.

2.5Pd , but there is a succeeding increment of displacement (Fig. 15).

Fig. 16 shows the total volume change of the PCCV due to
increment of internal pressure by the volume control method. The
ultimate internal pressure capacity of the PCCV is estimated over
3Pd because of sudden increment of displacement after 3.2Pd .
The volume control method has given more stable results even
there is a sudden change of volume because it make progress by a
constant volume increment, and it is confirmed that the volume
control method is very effective for large deformation analysis
post-peak.

5. Conclusions

The nonlinear volume control method has been developed for

the path-dependent nonlinear analysis of concrete structures. For
this purpose the layered shell elements adding pressure nodes Fig. 15. Vertical displacement of 1/4 scale PCCV model at dome apex.
998 H.-W. Song et al. / Engineering Structures 31 (2009) 990–998
Fig. 16. Total volume change.
along with the orthogonal two-way fixed crack model are used for
the path-dependent crack propagation analysis. The conclusions of
this study areas follows.
(1) An RC panel subjected to biaxial tension, RCCV and PCCV
subjected to internal pressure are analyzed, and the proposed
analysis method is verified by the comparison with experimental
results.
(2) Through the comparison with experimental results of RCCV
and PCCV, it is confirmed that the nonlinear volume control
method has more stable results than existing analytical methods
for the post-ultimate load.
(3) The analysis results of containment vessels and large scale
model test show that the ultimate internal pressure capacity of
RCCV and PCCV is 3 times larger than the design pressure, and
it is found that the ultimate behavior of a containment vessel is
governed by hoop directional behavior at the midheight of the wall.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial supports
from an Infra Structure Assessment Research Center (ISARC),
Korea and a MOCT R&D on Standardization of Performance Based
Construction Specifications of the Korea Concrete Institute, Korea.
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