Experimental Studies of Multi-Support Seismic Loading on Piping Systems

摘要

An extensive series of experiments on the seismic response of a model piping system in a structure has been completed on the shaking table of the Earthquake Simulator Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley. The purpose of these experiments was to provide data to assess the accuracy of current piping analysis methods for predicting the seismic response of multiple support piping systems. The piping system tested was a half-scale model and the structure in which it was located comprised two steel frames which could be interconnected to act as a single structure or disconnected to act as separate structures. The piping system was attached at several points to each structure and spanned the gap between the two. The report describes the experimental program, the results of which are presented in several forms--extreme values, time histories, floor response spectra and Fourier spectra. Examples of these are given and the response of the piping system when the two frame structures are braced together to act as a single unit is compared with that when the structures are unbraced and act independently. The response of the piping system when rod hangers only are used is compared with that when rods and snubbers, rods and springs, are used in combination.