Ratcheting based seismic performance assessment of a pressurized piping system: Experiments and analysis

• Published in: The International journal of pressure vessels and piping Vol. 177; p. 103995
• Main Authors: Ravi Kiran, A., Reddy, G.R., Agrawal, M.K., Raj, Mohan, Sajish, S.D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2019
• Subjects: Carbon steel piping loop; Earthquake load; Incremental iterative response spectrum method; Ratcheting; Shake table; Wavelet transforms; Wavelet transforms; Carbon steel piping loop; Earthquake load; Ratcheting; Shake table; Incremental iterative response spectrum method
• ISSN: 0308-0161; 1879-3541
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpvp.2019.103995

Shake table tests and numerical simulations are carried out to study ratcheting based seismic performance assessment of a piping system. A carbon steel piping loop is pressurized with water and subjected to shake table excitation of increasing amplitude until failure. The resulting strain accumulation at critical location of the loop is studied with an emphasis of characterizing the ratcheting based performance levels. These test results along with codal guidance are used to propose suitable limits of these strains. Wavelet transforms are applied to study change of free vibration characteristics of the loop. Later, a numerical simulation of the loop is carried out using an experimentally validated numerical tool. The simulated strains are compared with test results. •Seismic performance assessment of a pressurized piping system is carried out with an emphasis on ratcheting.•Two ratcheting performance limits are proposed based on codal guidance and tests.•It is observed that predominant failure mode for pressurized piping system is fatigue-ratcheting.•In spite of significant ratcheting at crown, the reduction in global stiffness of piping system is small.•Ratcheting strain predicted by Incremental Iterative Response Spectrum Method compares well with test results.