PSI - Issue 64

Federico Pinto et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 64 (2024) 766–773 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000–000

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Dome

Fig. 5. Displacements due only to pressure.

5. Conclusions Comparison of the recorded displacements and strains with respect to model predictions for the pressure test allowed the evaluation of the incidence of the thermal variations during the entire test duration. It is seen that uncontrolled thermal fluctuations may obscure the actual response of the structure due to the applied pressure alone. Measured daily oscillations of displacements due to thermal effects were found to be up to 1 mm at points in the cylindrical wall where the total maximum measured displacement was about 2.5 mm, and 1.5 mm at the spherical dome where the maximum measured displacement was close to 10 mm. These results confirm the significant impact that the environmental thermal effects that occurred during the test had on the measured displacements on the cylindrical wall. Such effects were much less significant in the observed displacement of the dome. Once the deformations due to the thermal variations were deducted, results showed that the displacements at the maximum applied pressure were in good agreement with the expected values. As a side note, it is observed that the performance of the structure during the testing after more than 30 years of service is in remarkable agreement with the reported behavior during the initial pressure test carried out in 1981, before the plant went in operation. Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the funding provided by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and the SECyT of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba for research associated to this project.