The damage of nonstructural components represents the largest contribution to the economic loss caused by an earthquake. Since nonstructural components are not amenable to traditional structural analysis, full-scale experimental testing is crucial to understand their behaviour under earthquake. For this reason, shaking table tests are performed to investigate the seismic behaviour of plasterboard partitions. A steel test frame is properly designed in order to simulate the seismic effects at a generic building storey. The tests are performed shaking the table simultaneously in both horizontal directions. To investigate a wide range of interstorey drift demand and seismic damage, the shakes are performed scaling the accelerograms at eleven different intensity levels.The tested plasterboard partitions from Siniat exhibit a good seismic behaviour, both in their own plane and out of plane, showing limited damage up to 1.1% interstorey drift ratio. The correlation between the dynamic characteristics of the test setup and the recorded damage is evidenced. Finally, an interesting comparison between the experimental results and the analytical model is also performed.

Among all the possible options to define the seismic input for structural analysis, natural recordings are emerging as the most attractive. Easily accessible waveform databases are available and evidence shows that only a relatively limited number of criteria has to be considered in selection and scaling to get an unbiased estimation of seismic demand. Like many codes worldwide, Eurocode 8 (EC8) allows the use of real ground-motion records for the seismic assessment of structures. The main condition to be satisfied by the chosen set is that the average elastic spectrum does not underestimate the code spectrum, with a 10% tolerance, in a broad range of periods depending on the structure's dynamic properties. The EC8 prescriptions seem to favour the use of spectrummatching records, obtained either by simulation or manipulation of real records. The study presented herein investigates the European Strong-Motion Database with the purpose of assessing whether it is possible to find real accelerogram sets complying with the EC8 spectra, while accounting for additional constraints believed to matter in the seismic assessment of buildings, as suggested by the current best practice. Original (un-scaled) accelerogram sets matching EC8 criteria were found, for the case of one-component (P-type) and spatial sets (S-type), for the spectra anchored to the Italian peak acceleration values. The average spectra for these sets tend to be as close as possible to the code spectrum. Other sets, requiring scaling, have been found to match the non dimensional (country-independent) EC8 spectral shape. These sets have also the benefit of reducing, in respect to the un-scaled sets, the record-to-record variability of spectra. Combinations referring to soft soil, stiff soil, and rock are presented here and are available on the internet at http://www.reluis.it/

Health care facilities may undergo severe and widespread damage that impairs the functionality of the system when it is stricken by an earthquake. Such detrimental response is emphasized either for the hospital buildings designed primarily for gravity loads or without employing base isolation/supplemental damping systems. Moreover, these buildings need to warrant operability especially in the aftermath of moderate-to-severe earthquake ground motions.\ud \ud The provisions implemented in the new seismic codes allow obtaining adequate seismic performance for the hospital structural components; nevertheless, they do not provide definite yet reliable rules to design and protect the building contents. To date, very few experimental tests have been carried out on hospital buildings equipped with nonstructural components as well as building contents.\ud \ud The present paper is aimed at establishing the limit states for a typical health care room and deriving empirical fragility curves by considering a systemic approach. Toward this aim, a full scale three-dimensional model of an examination (out patients consultation) room is constructed and tested dynamically by using the shaking table facility of the University of Naples, Italy. The sample room contains a number of typical medical components, which are either directly connected to the panel boards of the perimeter walls or behave as simple freestanding elements. The outcomes of the comprehensive shaking table tests carried out on the examination room have been utilized to derive fragility curves based on a systemic approac

After an earthquake, the failure of suspended ceiling systems is one of the most widely reported types of nonstructural damage in building structures. Since suspended ceiling systems are not amenable to traditional structural analysis, full-scale experimental testing is planned and executed. In particular, shaking table tests are performed in order to investigate the seismic behaviour of plasterboard continuous suspended ceilings under strong earthquakes. Two kinds of ceiling systems, named single frame ceiling and double frame ceiling, are tested. A steel test frame is properly designed in order to simulate the seismic effects at a generic building storey. A set of five accelerograms, used as input for the shakings, are selected matching the target response spectrum provided by the U.S. code for nonstructural components. Three limit states (occupancy, damage and life safety limit state) are considered in this study in order to characterize the seismic response of suspended ceiling systems. The tested ceilings show no damage at all intensity levels, evidencing a low fragility. Three main aspects may be the cause of this low vulnerability: (a) the continuous nature of the tested ceilings; (b) the dense steel channel grid that supports the plasterboard panels; (c) the large number of hangers that connects the ceiling system to the roof, avoiding any vertical movement of the ceilings. Finally, an interesting comparison is made with a previous vulnerability study on a different typical U.S. ceiling system

This paper details the findings of an experimental program that assessed the seismic performances of a novel low-cost base isolation device. The proposed bearings are referred to as recycled rubber-fiber-reinforced bearings (RR-FRBs). Devices composed of a low-cost recycled elastomer and reinforced with fiber sheets were manufactured and tested.The main revolutionary concepts investigated in this study are as follows: low-performance elastomers can be used to produce rubber isolators, and vulcanization can be prevented by bonding different layers with an elastic compound.This study addresses all design and technical aspects related to the implementation of the proposed base isolation system. Shaking table tests showed a significant improvement in the seismic performance of an RR-FRB isolated building with respect to a corresponding fixed-base structure.All peak measured quantities for the seven input earthquakes are listed in Table II. The table also shows the peak response of the corresponding 5% damped fixed-base structure. The structure, which was fixed at the base, did not yield during the seismic events. The measurements listed in the table indicate adequate capacity of the proposed technology in reducing the seismic demand on the structure.The response reductions in terms of interstory drift and top floor acceleration for each ground motion are shown in Figure 6. For the seven records, an average reduction of 55% was measured for the roof acceleration (i.e., columns shear), whereas an average reduction of 33% was determined for the interstory drift. The tests indicated different performances of the bearings with increasing energy content of the seismic events at the isolator's frequency. For instance, for both Campania records (CAM and CAT), significant reduction in the top floor acceleration (almost 60%) was observed. Figure 9. Amplification envelopes: isolated building versus 5% damped structure. RECYCLED RUBBER-FIBER-REINFORCED BEARINGS