STEEL BRACING SYSTEMS TO REDUCE THE SEISMIC VULNERABILITY OF LWS SUSPENDED CEILINGS: EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERISATION

Abstract

Analysing the consequences of the last decades worldwide earthquakes, significant damages were recorded to the non-structural element, even for the less-intense ones. One of the most frequently reported non-structural damages is related to the failure of suspended ceilings. The seismic vulnerability of these systems could cause noteworthy economic losses associated to business and functionality interruptions. One reason for the higher vulnerability of nonstructural elements can be found in the lack of seismic resistant details. In this work, the preliminary experimental response of the performance of two bracing systems designed to improve the seismic behaviour of lightweight suspended ceiling is presented. The tests on the bracing systems are carried out according to FEMA 461 loading protocol. The investigated bracing systems are tested using an universal testing machine by means of a properly designed test set-up. Moreover, the innovative test set-up allows to analyse the bracing systems performance in two different configurations for considering different possible directions of the horizontal seismic action. A total number of 20 cyclic tests are performed in order to compare the seismic behaviour of the two bracing systems in terms of strength, stiffness and damage phenomena.