Development of seismic response analysis method of piping system; Proposal of the nonlinear spring model for piping support structures

Takito, Kiyotaka ; Okuda, Yukihiko  ; Nishida, Akemi  ; Li, Y. 

In probabilistic risk assessment against earthquakes (seismic PRA) for nuclear power plants, the development of a realistic response analysis method for the fragility assessment of piping systems considering input seismic motions exceeding design assumptions is one of the important issues. Usually, piping systems exhibit complex three-dimensional shapes. The arrangement and stiffness of the piping support structures significantly affect the response characteristics of the entire piping system. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a realistic response analysis method of piping systems including piping support structures. In this study, a method for modeling the elasto-plastic hysteresis characteristics of piping support structures is developed to establish a seismic response analysis method of piping systems including piping support structures. First, we formulate an elatsto-plastic spring model that can express the elasto-plastic hysteresis characteristics of a piping support structure. Subsequently, we perform a simulation analysis for the loading test of a piping support structure using this model. As the analysis results and test results were in good agreement, we confirmed the effectiveness of the formulation of the model. The main contents, such as the formulation of the elasto-plastic spring model, the simulation analysis of the loading test, and the comparison between the analysis results and the test results, and the results of this study are reported in this paper.