[en] The specimen studied was a half-scale model of a piping system from a nuclear reactor power plant. This was tested in its original design configuration using mechanical shock arrestors (snubbers), and subsequently in a revised configuration using ductile steel energy absorbers. The influence of the snubbers and of different energy absorbers on the dynamic response of the pipe system is discussed; a direct one-to-one replacement of the snubbers by energy absorbers allows a direct comparison of the results. The response of the structure was studied under all three direction components of ground motions, though a maximum of two components (one horizontal and the vertical) was applied simultaneously. In the case of the energy absorbers, the effect of a thermal loading was simulated by a deforming system at the restrainers, and the seismic loading was superimposed on this biased configuration. Over a hundred test runs were recorded using four different artificial earthquakes as well as sinusoidal input. A study of damping behavior, frequency spectra and hysteresis loops for both shock arrestors and energy absorbers facilitates an extensive interpretation of the experimental data