An investigation of elastic-plastic seismic analysis of piping systems under high level of earthquake motion

The current design by rules of the ASME Section III Code for the nuclear power plant piping system is principally based on the elastic design concept Such design often results in a more rigid piping system, structurally, that may not be so desirable from the viewpoint of long term plant operation. The so called 'elastic design' approach has failed to utilize the ductility that steel pipe exhibits, and therefore, the resulting system maintains a great deal of reserve margin in seismic design. This study does not attempt to assess the amount of this reserve margin but provides some findings and discussions with respect to dynamic inelastic analysis results in the piping system design. Using a test correlation analysis it was found that, while the analytical tools that exist are conservative for low strain levels, further studies with loadings at high strain levels are recommended for a more reasonable design. (author)