Tri-Axial Shake Table Test on the Thinned Wall Piping Model and Damage Detection Before Failure

Abstract

In order to investigate the influence of degradation on dynamic behavior of piping systems and clarify the failure mode of piping systems with local wall thinning, tri-axial shake table tests using three-dimensional piping system models were conducted. The degradation used in this study was wall thinning at elbows and a tee, which was considered to be caused in piping systems due to the effects of aging. The test results show that the dominant frequency and the maximum response acceleration would be reduced due to the existence of wall thinning. Nondestructive inspections such as ultrasonic inspection tests and penetrant inspection tests were applied in the interval of the shake table test in order to detect the damage caused by the repeated shaking. As a result, nondestructive inspection methods would be useful for detecting the damage before the failure caused by the seismic load.