Development of New Seismic Testing Program for Suspended Ceilings: Fid-Bau Portal

Development of New Seismic Testing Program for Suspended Ceilings

Flude, C. / Lau, D. / Erochko, J.

Damage to suspended ceilings is one of the most observed types of earthquake damage to non-structural components. Despite the extensive damage observed in past earthquakes, there is still a lack of thorough investigation on understanding the behaviour and failure mechanisms of suspended ceilings during earthquakes. This paper describes the development of a new testing program to investigate the failure mechanisms and seismic performance of suspended ceilings, including the influence of the vertical and rotational components of building floor motions. Existing testing procedures for non-structural components have not adequately taken into account for the difference in characteristics of floor motions as a result of the vibration response of the supporting structure to the earthquake input excitation. While there have been previous shake table tests on suspended ceilings, most of these tests considered only the horizontal motions and only limited studies have also included the vertical component of floor motions. New state-of-the-art testing facilities at Carleton University utilize four mobile shake tables which allow for movement in all six degrees-of-freedom and can more realistically simulate the support conditions and seismic excitations of complex suspended ceiling layouts. Behaviour and performance of suspended ceilings in buildings of different heights including super-tall buildings are investigated. Super-tall buildings are more flexible and deflect more as part of their design strategy to dissipate seismic energy during earthquakes. As a result, especially at high floor levels, the floor vibration response includes more pronounced vertical and rotational components. Consequently, the vertical and rotational floor motion component may have a significant impact on the performance of suspended ceilings in super-tall buildings making them more vulnerable to seismic damage and failure.