Experimental and Analytical Study on Non-Damaged Reinforcement Method for Pipe Rack Steel Structures

Abstract

Pipe racks are steel structures that support various pipes transporting materials in industrial complexes. The pipes on pipe racks may transport hazardous substances, which imposes limitations on their structural reinforcement. Therefore, this study aimed to propose methods for reinforcing the joints of pipe rack structures through non-welding and non-drilling techniques. The joints of pipe rack structures were connected by end plates. Initially, this study evaluated the capacity of existing end plates in a real-world experiment and conducted cyclic loading tests with two additional reinforcement methods to validate their performance. Finally, finite element analysis was conducted to explore additional variables that were not covered in the experiments, and the optimal reinforcement method that demonstrated the best performance was proposed.