Damage to fire sprinkler system piping in an earthquake could result in additional damage to a building due to a fire, which is not contained, or water damage, which causes significant economic loss when there would have been only minimal structural damage otherwise. The piping can be damaged by colliding with obstructions, which are located next to the piping, while it is swinging due to motion of the ceiling, which the piping is attached to. In an effort to prevent this from happening, this project presents a preliminary study to numerically simulate the response of sprinkler piping during an earthquake, in order to investigate the effects of structural parameters and ground motion characteristics on the motion of piping system, and to develop a design spectrum for the installation of fire sprinkler piping.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Contois, Donald E.

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• 02D360M

Advisor

• Hou, Zhikun

Year

• 2002

Date created

• 2002-01-01

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Mechanical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright