Seismic Response of Ceiling/Sprinkler Piping Nonstructural Systems in NEES TIPS/NEES Nonstructural/NIED Collaborative Tests on a Full Scale 5-Story Building

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Abstract
Nonstructural systems constitute a significant portion of the total property of a typical building. Recent earthquakes have repeatedly demonstrated that nonstructural damage results in significant loss of property and function with major catastrophic impact on communities. In a collaborative project between the NSF NEES program and the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention of Japan, a full-scale, five-story steel moment frame building was subjected to a number of 2D and 3D ground motions using the E-Defense shake table. The building was tested under three different configurations: 1) base isolated with triple pendulum bearings (TPB), 2) base isolated with a combination of lead-rubber bearings and cross linear bearings (LRB/CLB), and 3) base fixed. As part of a NEESR-GC project on the "Simulation of the Seismic Performance of Nonstructural Systems," more than 75 m2 (800 sq-ft) of suspended ceiling with lay-in tiles and 3 sprinkler branch lines were installed on the 4th and 5th floors of the building. The ceiling was enclosed by light gauge stud gypsum partition walls. This paper presents some of the preliminary observations on the response of nonstructural systems from these experiments.