MOMENT ROTATION RELATIONSHIP CONSIDERING FLATTENING OF PIPE DUE TO PIPE WHIP LOADING

It is important to take flattening of pipe into consideration in order to obtain pipe deformation due to pipe whip loading. An experimental relationship between the flattening of pipe and the pipe surface strain was used to derive the moment-rotation relationship of whipping pipe. The derived moment-rotation relationship was used to calcualte the pipe strain in the pipe whip tests using a simplified energy balance method. A comparatively good agreement was obtained between the analytical and experimental results. Implications for loss of coolant accidents in the design of light water nuclear reactor power plants are discussed.