Abstract
A reactor building is a large extraordinary structure consisting of thick walls and thick slabs. As the first step to establish a rational aseismic design procedure and construction method for such a particular structure, a BWR Mark II was chosen as a prototype. The object of the experiment was to grasp the overall behavior of the reactor building under earthquake forces. The specimen was a vertically split 1/25 scale model to which lateral forces were applied statically. The test made clear the strength and the deformation relationship, mode of failure, and the safety factors for design load. That is, the model failed in shear as anticipated, but possessed unexpected toughness and strength. The formula proposed by the authors for the strength-deformation relationships, which correspond moderately with other existing analytical load-deformation curves, represented extremely well the test results of the thick walled structure.
