Impact of Deformation Stiffness Beyond Yield Point of Pipe Support Structures on Nonlinear Seismic Response Analysis

The importance of safety evaluation for beyond design conditions has come to be required since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant as a consequence of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Real simulations of seismic response for the plant structures and components enhance establishment of reasonable design margins and safety evaluation criteria in a situation beyond design-basis accidents. For piping systems, nonlinear seismic response analysis considering plastic deformation of pipe support structures can lead to a safety evaluation based on more rational input values. This study discussed seismic response of a piping system and its appropriate analysis method when a plastically deformable pipe support structure was subjected to a much larger seismic load than the designed one. Seismic response analyses of the piping system including a plastically deformable pipe support structure were conducted for various input acceleration levels. The vibration characteristics, response acceleration, and moment of piping were compared in relation to the amount of plastic deformation of the pipe support structure. As a result of the comparisons, a support model with the elastic fully plastic property was proposed as a simple and proper method to calculate the seismic response of the piping system considering the plastic deformation of the pipe support structure.