This paper investigates the structural performance of novel steel-plate concrete containment structures, focusing on third-generation nuclear power plants. To address the challenges of increased complexities and costs associated with double-layer containment designs, this study explores the potential of steel-plate concrete structures to enhance safety, economic efficiency, and construction simplicity. The steel-plate concrete structure, characterized by its core concrete and dual steel plates, shows superior compressive strength, bending resistance, and elastoplasticity. Extensive numerical analyses, including finite element modeling and thermal-stress coupling, were conducted under various load conditions. Under structural integrity test conditions, the maximum radial displacement observed was 24.59 mm. Under design basis conditions, the maximum radial displacement was 47.61 mm; under severe accident conditions, it was 53.83 mm. The ultimate bearing capacity was 0.91 MPa, 2.17 times the design pressure. This study concludes that the steel-plate concrete containment structure maintains a high safety margin under all tested conditions, with stress and strain well within acceptable limits. It can effectively serve as a robust barrier against radioactive leakage and malicious impacts, providing a viable alternative to conventional containment designs.

A prestressed concrete containment is the enclosure structure of a nuclear reactor that serves as the last physical barrier of a nuclear power plant (NPP) safety defense system. It plays a key role in the prestress time-limited aging analysis (TLAA) required for operating license extensions for NPPs. Considering prestress containment systems without long-term monitoring tendons in a nuclear power plant, the technical route for prestress TLAAs involves analyzing operating license extension regulations and in-service monitoring technical requirements for prestressed tendons performance. Using tendons based on theoretical calculations of prestress loss in a nuclear power plant and the minimum required value of prestress determined by numerical simulation, the theoretical predictive value can be compared with the minimum required value for prestressed steel tendons. This comparison can be used to evaluate the 20-year life extension of the prestress system and provide a reference for aging and life management of NPPs.

The growing concerns over nuclear power plant safety in the wake of extreme impact events have highlighted the need for containment structures with superior resistance to large commercial aircraft strikes. Conventional reinforced concrete containment has shown limitations in withstanding high-mass and high-velocity impacts, posing potential risks to structural integrity and operational safety. Addressing this challenge, this study focuses on the dynamic impact resistance and vibration behavior of steel–ultra-high-performance concrete (S-UHPC) composite containment, aiming to enhance nuclear facility resilience under beyond-design-basis aircraft impact scenarios. Validated finite element models in LS-DYNA were developed to simulate impacts from four representative large commercial aircraft types, considering variations in wall and steel plate thicknesses, UHPC grades, and soil–structure interaction conditions. Unlike existing studies that often focus on isolated parameters, this work conducts a systematic parametric analysis integrating multiple aircraft types, structural configurations, and foundation conditions, providing comprehensive insights into both global deformation and high-frequency vibration behavior. Comparative analyses with conventional reinforced concrete containment were performed, and floor response spectra were evaluated to quantify high-frequency vibration characteristics under different site conditions. The results show that S-UHPC containment reduces peak displacement by up to ~24% compared to reinforced concrete of the same thickness while effectively localizing core damage without through-thickness failure. In addition, aircraft impacts predominantly excite 90–125 Hz vibrations, with soft soil conditions amplifying acceleration responses by more than four times, underscoring the necessity of site-specific dynamic analysis in nuclear containment and equipment design.

Steel-concrete-steel (SC) composite walls are used in protective and nuclear structures, but perforation assessment under rigid projectile impact still depends on costly nonlinear simulation or conservative code procedures. This study develops a dimensional-analysis-guided two-stage surrogate for double-skin SC walls subjected to normal impact by rigid flat-nose projectiles. A calibrated and transfer-validated LS-DYNA template was used to generate a quality-controlled accepted FE database of 300 cases over an eight-dimensional design space, which was reduced to five dimensionless groups using Buckingham-Π analysis. Perforation was classified with a probability-calibrated Random Forest, and transmitted residual velocity was predicted conditionally using Gaussian process regression. Under nested 5-fold cross-validation, the cascade achieved ROC-AUC = 0.970 ± 0.020 and end-to-end RMSE = 17.1 ± 8.2 m/s; these metrics quantify FE emulation fidelity rather than direct experimental predictive accuracy. Mechanistically, the surrogate indicates that local perforation is governed primarily by the competition between concrete resistance energy and projectile kinetic energy, with steel-plate and concrete thickness acting as co-controlling ratios within the calibrated domain.

Clamped steel-concrete (SC) and steel-concrete-steel (SCS) composite panels are widely used as protective wall and slab components, but rapid prediction of blast-induced displacement remains difficult when near-field loading and nonlinear core-faceplate interaction produce large deformation. A published-test-benchmarked and uncertainty-aware data-physics framework is developed for the maximum inward displacement of clamped concrete-core steel composite panels under hemispherical surface-burst loading. Published SC/SCS blast and pressure-pulse tests are screened into explicit evidence tiers. The detailed nonlinear finite-element (FE) workflow is checked against permanent-displacement evidence and two external first-peak load cases, with present-FE peak deviations of +11.1% and +2.8% at elastic and inelastic response levels. A 109-case nonlinear FE database provides a controlled computational expansion over Z = 0.405–5.426 m/kg ^1/3 , t _c = 350–1200 mm, t _s = 6–28 mm, f _c = 30–70 MPa, and f _y = 345–550 MPa. The dimensionless analytical formula achieves a root-mean-square log error (RMSE _log ) of 0.250, R ² = 0.992, and 108/109 factor-of-two coverage. A Gaussian-process residual layer reduces the cross-validated RMSE _log to 0.123 and decreases the conditional multiplicative surrogate-error factor, evaluated relative to deterministic FE outputs, from 1.63 to 1.27. Monte Carlo, partial rank correlation coefficient (PRCC), and Sobol analyses show that pressure demand dominates full-domain variance, while scaled distance becomes a strong conditional driver for Z < 1.5 m/kg ^1/3 . The framework is intended only for preliminary screening within the calibrated FE domain; reported errors quantify surrogate-to-FE agreement, not general physical prediction accuracy or a total physical 95% prediction interval, and transfer to new concrete or panel systems requires case-specific validation.