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U.S. Department of Energy
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Experimental studies of pipe whip and impact: Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6128468
An experimental and computational study was undertaken to estimate the effects of pipe rupture and induced pipe whip impact on surround structures considered either as rigid or deformative such as concrete slabs. This program included sixteen tests using 3 inch schedule 80 (or 10) pipes made of carbon steel similar to A106 grade B. The study consisted of tests on rigid target and on concrete slab. The investigation of whip phase and impact phase was done separately for each test. For pipe impact on rigid targets, the impact forces are found to be directly related to the crush strength of the pipe and the general pipe deformation following the impact. For pipe impact on concrete slabs, the response of the target to the pipe impact needs to take into account the local effect such as penetration and localized damage on the slab. The test matrix covered a broad range of geometric parameters. It provides a significant data base for studying pipe whip and impact phenomena. Apart from the experiments, illustrative calculations were made to simulate the pipe whip behavior and compute the resulting loads corresponding to experimental conditions.
Research Organization:
CEA Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Cadarache, 13 - Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France); Framatome, 92 - Paris La Defense (France); Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
6128468
Report Number(s):
EPRI-NP-4534; ON: TI87920329
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English