Rational seismic design procedures necessitate comprehensive evaluation of nuclear piping systems under large amplitude seismic loads. This comprehensive assessment requires accurate prediction of inelastic response of piping system till failure to ensure adequate margins for unexpected beyond design basis events. The present paper describes the details of experimental and numerical studies of inelastic response of pressurized piping system under seismic loading. Shake table test has been carried out on a three-dimensional stainless steel piping system under internal pressure and seismic load. The amplitude of base excitation has been increased till failure of the piping system. The tested piping system has been analyzed using iterative response spectrum (IRS) method for various levels of excitation. The comparison of numerical and experimental results is given in the paper.
In pressurized piping systems, strain accumulation may take place due to cyclic loading during a seismic event. This incremental plastic deformation called ratcheting may lead to failure of the piping systems. There is no numerical method available to evaluate this accumulated strain in the piping system using response spectrum as input. In the literature, incremental hinge technique is available to predict the failure level conservatively by considering static collapse as the failure mode. However, it is observed from shake table tests that failure in the piping components, especially in elbows, is due to ratcheting. Considering this failure mode and design input as a response spectrum, a modified incremental hinge technique is developed and validated with experimental results. The strain predicted by this analysis closely matches with that of experimental results which are available up to an excitation of 0.75 g ZPA (zero period acceleration). In the experiment, the pressure boundary rupture occurred at 2 g ZPA, while the analysis predicts the failure of the piping system at 2.37 g ZPA. Details of these investigations are presented in the paper.
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