Seismic Bracing is the key to keeping critical systems operational during and immediately after an earthquake. Without proper preventative measures, essential services can stop working completely in a matter of minutes causing disruption and potentially danger to building occupants. In hospitals, this means temperature sensitive meds expire and go bad, ventilators aren’t running and occupants can die, data centers suffer from downtime and loss of financial information and other classified materials, and multi-tenant residences lose access to their kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, water supplies and electrical service.
Many municipalities along earthquake prone areas require seismic protection as part of the building code and conduct regular inspections to ensure preventative measures are in place to keep buildings and their occupants safe. Seismic protection includes bracing and seismic restraint systems that are designed to minimize damage during an earthquake.
Piping networks are a key element of seismic protection and can be under or above pressure (15 pounds per square inch or more). They may convey HAZMAT (toxic, flammable, explosive, etc.) or not. Non-HAZMAT, non-pressure piping is typically exempt from seismic protection requirements unless they are located in Occupancy Category IV buildings or higher and the failure of those lines could threaten the life or safety of occupants.
Unlike Seismic bracing company that can be welded, bolted, or screwed to their support structures, piping is connected to equipment via flexible joints. This flexibility allows piping to shift with the ground movement of an earthquake, but it can also cause the equipment to move out of its support locations and potentially impact other systems in the area or cause a complete system outage.
Seismic bracing can mitigate these risks by preventing both lateral and longitudinal (parallel to the pipe) motion. Braces can be applied to individual joints or installed throughout a system to reduce the overall risk of damage to the entire system and its occupants.
The design of a seismic system requires a combination of factors including the expected displacement, lateral force on each segment of piping, the weight of the piping, and the strength of the connections. The resulting calculation can be complicated and time-consuming, but there are a variety of user-friendly online seismic bracing calculators that simplify the process.
Loos offers pre-engineered seismic cable bracing kits that have been stamped by a Professional Engineer for use in satisfying all applicable laws, codes, and standards, including NFPA 13, which specifies seismic protection requirements for fire sprinkler systems. These kits contain the required number of each size of Loos Gold seismic bracing cable with color-coded, break strength certified ends and easy-to-follow installation digrams.
Each kit is also equipped with Loos permanent end sleeves, which are installed on the cable using a simple swaging tool to provide a permanent connection and resist loosening from vibration and earthquake damage. These sleeves are zinc-plated for corrosion resistance and sized to match the load rating of each cable size. This enables each cable to carry the maximum allowable load while retaining its full strength, avoiding the potential damage caused by common wedge- or clip-type fittings used in other seismic installations.
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