2. The benefits of non-linear modelling in civil engineering: the case of a special-risk building

2.1 Context

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan. This created the conditions for a tsunami, with waves reaching up to 30 m in height. This tsunami was at the origin of the Fukushima nuclear accident, which was rated level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). One month later, in response to the scale of the event, the European Union introduced supplementary safety assessments (SSAs) for all its nuclear-weaponized member states. The main aim of this measure was to reaffirm the safety of existing nuclear facilities by considering accidental seismic loads of increased intensity. European nuclear operators were then obliged to put in place the means to meet this demand by estimating their design margins with regard to seismic...