The response of nuclear power plants (NPPs) to seismic events is affected by soil-structure interactions (SSI). In the present paper, a finite element (FE) model with transmitting boundaries is used to analyse the SSI effect on the response of NPP buildings subjected to vertically incident seismic excitation. Analysis parameters that affect the accuracy of the calculations, including the dimension of the domain and artificial boundary types, are investigated through a set of models. A numerical SSI analysis for the 10 MW High Temperature Gas Cooled Test Reactor (HTR-10) under seismic excitation was carried out using the developed model. The floor response spectra (FRS) produced by the SSI analysis are compared with a fixed-base model to investigate the SSI effect on the dynamic response of the reactor building. The results show that the FRS at foundation level are reduced and those at higher floor levels are altered significantly when taking SSI into account. The peak frequencies of the FRS are reduced due to the SSI, whereas the acceleration at high floor levels is increased at a certain frequency range. The seismic response of the primary system components, however, is reduced by the analysed SSI for the HTR-10 on the current soil site.
Transbronchial biopsy sampling, as a minimally invasive method with relatively low risk, has been proved to be a promising treatment in the field of respiratory surgery. Although several robotic bronchoscopes have been developed, it remains a great challenge to balance size and flexibility, while integrating multisensors to realize navigation during complex airway networks. This paper proposes a novel robotic bronchoscope system composed by end effector with relatively small size, relevant actuation unit, and navigation system with path planning and surgical guidance capability. The main part of the end effector is machined by bidirectional groove on a nickel–titanium tube, which can realize bending, rotation, and translation 3 degrees of freedom. A prototype of the proposed robotic bronchoscope system is designed and fabricated, and its performance is tested through several experiments to verify the stiffness, flexibility, and navigation performance. The results show that the proposed system is with good environment adaptiveness, and it can become a promising biopsy method through natural cavity of the human body.
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