Seismic assessment of an unconventional structure: The cryostat of "Cuore" experiment

This paper deals with the seismic assessment of a complex structure supporting the CUORE experiment (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events). The main issues, that require a special computational treatment, are: (i) non-linear geometric behavior of the suspended vessels; (ii) multiple contacts between the nested vessels and between the cryostat and the external shields; (iii) non-linear constitutive law of the HDR bearings. The problem has been tackled by building a 3D detailed finite element model, that has been used for simulating, via an explicit step-by-step algorithm, the dynamic response to artificial spectrum-compatible accelerograms. The results of the analyses have been used for introducing some specific structural improvements.