Buffalo - Double Joint Seismic Tests with Rinaldi Ground Motion

The objective of this test series is to investigate the seismic behaviors of the adjacent weak joints or circumferential cracks of DI pipelines after retrofit with Starliner2000 liner subjected to asynchronized ground motion.

The relative joint opening time histories under Rinaldi ground motions obtained from the numerical analysis at Cornell University were used as the input ground motion for the double-joint tests. The Rinaldi ground motions scaled to eight different amplitudes, from 50% up to 260%, were used as the input motions for this seismic test series. In order to prevent metal contacting in compression, the negative displacements were removed from the input ground motions. Because 260% Rinaldi ground motion was the maximum input motion obtained from the numerical analysis at Cornell University, the 260% Rinaldi ground motion was scaled by 1.5 and 2.25 to exam the capacity of the lined joints.