• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.112-119
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• 2021

The failure mode of piping systems due to seismic loads is the low-cycle fatigue failure with ratcheting, and it was found that the element in which nonlinear behavior is concentrated and damage occurs is the elbow. In this study, to quantitatively express the failure criteria for a pipe elbow of SCH40 3-inch carbon steel under low-cycle fatigue, the limit state was defined as leakage, and the in-plane cyclic loading test was conducted. For the carbon steel pipe elbow, which is the vulnerable part to seismic load of piping systems, the damage index was represented using the moment-deformation angle relationship, and it was compared and analyzed with the damage index calculated using the force-displacement relationship. An attempt was made to quantitatively express the limit state of the carbon steel pipe elbow involving leakage using the damage index, which was based on the dissipated energy caused by repeated external forces.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2022

This study proposes a low-cycle fatigue life derived from measurement points on pipe elbows, which are components that are vulnerable to seismic load in the interface piping systems of nuclear power plants that use seismic isolation systems. In order to quantitatively define limit states regarding leakage, i.e., actual failure caused by low-cycle fatigue, in-plane cyclic loading tests were performed using a sine wave of constant amplitude. The test specimens consisted of SCH40 6-inch carbon steel pipe elbows and straight pipes, and an image processing method was used to measure the nonlinear behavior of the test specimens. The leakage lines caused by low-cycle fatigue and the low-cycle fatigue curves were compared and analyzed using the relationship between the relative deformation angles, which were measured based on each of the measurement points on the straight pipe, and the moment, which was measured at the center of the pipe elbow. Damage indices based on the combination of ductility and dissipation energy at each measurement point were used to quantitatively express the time at which leakage occurs due to through-wall cracking in the pipe elbow.