Cost-Benefit Analysis of High-Strength Materials for Safety-Related Nuclear Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls
A numerical parametric investigation was conducted to determine the economic benefits of utilizing high-strength concrete and high-strength steel reinforcing bar (rebar) in reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls for nuclear power plant structures. Thick RC shear walls with low height-to-length aspect ratios (i.e., aspect ratios, h{sub w}/l{sub w}≤2.0, where h{sub w} is the wall height and l{sub w} is the wall length) are the most common lateral load resisting members in non-containment, safety-related nuclear structures. Typically, the walls are reinforced with multiple layers of overlapping, large-diameter vertical and horizontal rebar on each face. These heavily-reinforced walls provide large lateral stiffness and strength to prevent significant deformations and/or cracking that could compromise the integrity of the nuclear facility. However, this design adversely affects constructability as the rebar cages become highly congested. The time, labor, and materials required for this construction lead to high overall project costs. There has been a recent research thrust in the U.S. to allow high-strength rebar in non-nuclear building structures. While some of this research (e.g., steel properties, bond, anchorage) is applicable to RC structures in general, there are important differences specific to nuclear structures, such as much thicker walls (often controlled by radiation and thermal cycling), larger reinforcement ratios, and increased susceptibility to shear-controlled behavior (due to low aspect ratios). An important limiting factor for non-nuclear structures in seismic regions is the reduced deformation capacity of high-strength rebar as compared with normal-strength rebar used in current practice. Differences in seismic design philosophy lessen this limitation for nuclear structures (i.e., nuclear structures are designed more conservatively and allowed to undergo significantly smaller nonlinear displacements), making high-strength rebar a promising alternative to reinforcement currently permissible in the ACI 349-13 code requirements, which govern the design of nuclear safety-related concrete structures. To improve constructability and economy, this study investigates the benefits of using high-strength rebar [i.e., ASTM A615 Grade 550 (U.S. Grade 80); ASTM A1035 Grades 690 and 830 (U.S. Grades 100 and 120), where the grade indicates the specified yield strength of the steel in MPa (ksi)] together with high-strength concrete [compression strengths up to 138 MPa (20.0 ksi)] in RC nuclear shear walls. These strength ranges represent steel and concrete materials that are commercially available in the U.S. High-strength rebar can significantly reduce the required steel areas, thereby reducing material/fabrication costs, reducing rebar congestion (fewer/smaller bars and bar layers), and facilitating concrete consolidation and placement. Previous research on the use of high-strength rebar and/or high-strength concrete in nuclear RC structures does not exist in North America. A recent study assessed the potential of high-strength steel to reduce the rebar volume in non-nuclear building construction. In Japan, researchers investigated the use of high-strength materials in safety-related nuclear RC structures, but did not explore the economic benefits of these materials. To address this knowledge gap, the current paper describes a numerical parametric investigation on the potential cost savings of nuclear shear walls with high-strength rebar and/or concrete through comparisons against state-of-practice walls with normal-strength materials. Overall, the results demonstrate that significant economic benefits can be realized by implementing high-strength rebar and concrete in these structures. (authors)