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REVISION 3
Incoherent Analysis



1) Please follow the Installation-Network to install the program package on the stand-
alone PC or on the networked set of PCs. The USB hard key works either as stand-
alone or on the network system.

2) SASSI2000, Rev 3 offers all features of the Rev 2 plus the additional capability for
incoherent analysis and offers a new element, thick plate element that can provide
forces in out of plane direction for design.

3) For conventional coherent analysis, please follow the same sequence of runs as for
Rev 2. There is no change in input data. Previously generated data for Version 2
can be used for Version 3.

4) The incoherent analysis is based on the superposition of spatial modes in the
ground. Please read the document called SASSI Incoh-Formulation s in the folder
with the theoretical manual. For each frequency SSI problem is solved each spatial
mode. Except for the first spatial model, all other modes use re-start mode 3 option
in ANALYS. The transfer function results from all spatial modes are combined using
the SRSS method. The document, SASSI Incoh-Formulation, provides the
formulation of the method and results of several verification examples for the method
using the theoretical model by Luco et al.

5) The CD under the folder EXAMPLES/EPRI contained two EPRI reports. One report
describes the basis of the ground motion incoherency model. The model identified
as hard rock model has been approved by the US NRC for nuclear power plant
analysis and design. The other models are for general use and have not been
approved by the US NRC. The second EPRI report describes the details of
verification of incoherency model for SSI analysis. A multi-stick model is used and
the results of SASSI methods are compared with CLASSI methods. Appendix A of
the report shows the results of all methods due one direction of shaking at a time. In
Chapter 5, the results of various methods are also compared. The results in
Chapter 5 do include the co-directional effects and show the total response for each
direction identified. Among the methods presented, only SASSI-SRSS, CLASSI-
SRSS and SASSI simulation have been approved by the US NRC.

6) Typically, solutions of 5 to 10 spatial modes are sufficient for the very stiff nuclear
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power plant foundations. The user may choose to combine fewer modes or ask for
more than 10 modes for parametric study.

7) The sequence of runs for incoherent analysis consists of SITE, POINT3, HOUSE,
INCOH, ANALYS and MOTION. The program INCOH provides several models for
incoherent analysis. The hard rock model by N Abrahamson has been approved by
US NRC for application to nuclear structures. The model by Luco is a theoretical
model that is useful to develop SSI solution for comparison with Lucos theoretical
SSI solutions published in technical papers.

8) In addition to INCOH, there is a new program module COMBINI that combines the
solution of all spatial modes selected by the user using SRSS to get the final solution
for each frequency of analysis. The previous module COMBIN is kept and is used to
combine the solution from multiple sets of frequencies.

9) Except for module INCOH that requires a new input file, there is no change in the
data for all other modules except for ANALYS. There is one new entry in ANALYS
data that user needs to ask for the incoherent analysis by inserting number 1 as
described in the user manual in 2
nd
line column 30.

10) Incoherent analysis is only performed for 3D problems and is not applicable to 2D
problems due to unsymmetrical rocking and torsional motion.

11) The results of incoherent analysis (tape 8) are used by MOTION to compute all
responses in terms of acceleration response spectra and maximum accelerations.
Computation of forces by STRESS is limited to coherent analysis and cannot be
used by incoherent results. This is because incoherency is a high frequency effect
(say above 10 Hz) and does not impact low frequency force responses.

12) As an example, the input/output files for the example used by the EPRI study is
provided under the folder EPRI. This example is fully described in the EPRI report
enclosed on the CD. Under folder C:\SASSI2000_Rev3\EXAMPLES\EPRI-Final-
Report-Example-AP1000\INPUT-OUTPUT-RUN the word files of the results
comparing SASSI-SRSS solution to other SSI solution due to X-, Y- and Z-shaking
are provided. The same figures do exist in Appendix A of the EPRI report.

13) The EPRI problem is analyzed with two sets of frequencies, set a and set b. Go to
C:\SASSI2000_Rev3\EXAMPLES\EPRI-Final-Report-Example-AP1000\INPUT-
OUTPUT-RUN\Freq-Seta and click on 1-EPRI.bat. This will perform the analysis for
the first set f frequencies and perform SRSS on the 10 spatial modes for each
frequency of analysis. 1-EPRI.bat calls the other two .bat files to complete the
SRSS calculation. Next go to C:\SASSI2000_Rev3\EXAMPLES\EPRI-Final-Report-
Example-AP1000\INPUT-OUTPUT-RUN\Freq-Setb and click on 1-EPRI.bat to get
the solution for set b. Finally, go to C:\SASSI2000_Rev3\EXAMPLES\EPRI-Final-
Report-Example-AP1000\INPUT-OUTPUT-RUN\Response-ARS and click on
Response.bat. These sets of runs combine the results for two sets of frequencies
and runs MOTION. The results are saved in terms of MOTION outputs and tapes
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16.


14) Please note the EPRI report and comparison of SASSI and CLASSI is based on the
N Abrahamson soil model and not the hard rock model. The soil model provides
more incoherency and was considered to be a better model for the purpose of
Comparing various SSI methods.

15) As described in the EPRI, due to unsymmetric rocking and torsional vibration once
incoherency is used, and for the purpose of comparison with CLASSI, the coupling
responses at the edge of the foundation are obtained by multiplying the rotation
acceleration response spectra by the arm. This approach is used by CLASSI for
foundation. The SASSI results are processed similarly.

16) For computers with multi core capability, each CPU can be directed to analyze few
frequencies and the resulting tape 8 on each CPU can be combined using COMBIN
to run MOTION.

17) The coherent and incoherent Tapes 8 can be used in MOTION to get response
spectra and ZPA. MOTION is the same as Rev 2.

18) The incoherent option does not allow computation of member forces and stresses at
this time. However, since member forces are typically low frequency responses, use
of coherent results for members forces are considered adequate.