• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.91-99
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• 2024

Piping systems are crucial facilities used in various industries, particularly in areas related to daily life and safety. Piping systems are fixed to the main structures of buildings and facilities but do not support external loads and serve as non-structural elements performing specific functions. Piping systems are affected by relative displacements owing to phase differences arising from different behaviors between two support points under seismic loads; this can cause damage owing to the displacement-dominant cyclic behavior. Fittings and joints in piping systems are representative elements that are vulnerable to seismic loads. To evaluate the seismic performance and limit states of fittings and joints in piping systems, a high-stroke actuator is required to simulate relative displacements. However, this is challenging because only few facilities can conduct these experiments. Therefore, element-level experiments are required to evaluate the seismic performance and limit states of piping systems connected by fittings and joints. This study proposed a method to evaluate the seismic performance of an elbow specimen that includes fittings and joints that are vulnerable to seismic loads in vertical piping systems. The elbow specimen was created by connecting straight pipes to both ends of a 90° pipe elbow using flexible groove joints. The seismic performance of the elbow specimen was evaluated using a cyclic loading protocol based on deformation angles. To determine the margin of the evaluated seismic performance, the limit states were assessed by applying cyclic loading with a constant amplitude.