A comparative study of sub-system and system level experiments of suspension ceiling systems

As part of the project entitled "NEESR-GC: Simulation of the Seismic Performance of Nonstructural System" a series of sub-system and system-level experiments were conducted for the seismic assessment of suspended ceiling systems. The first series of experiments were performed at the University at Buffalo NEES site using a 20 ft. by 50 ft. and 10 ft. high steel frame placed on top of two shake tables. Ten different ceiling configurations were designed and studied in these tests. The second phase of experiments were performed using a large-scale, five-story, two-by-two bay, steel moment frame building which was subjected to a number of 2D and 3D ground motions using the shake table at the E-Defense in Japan. Two ceiling configurations were studied in these experiments including their interactions with piping and partition systems. The last series of tests examined suspension ceiling systems installed in a Test-Bed structure (a two-story, two-bay by one-bay steel framing system) which was designed and mounted longitudinally over three bi-axial shake tables at the University of Nevada NEES site. Fifteen different configurations of suspended ceiling systems were tested including their interaction with piping and partition systems. The main goal of this paper is to present a comparative study between experimental data and observations obtained from these three experiments. The paper highlights the effects of experimental environments and input motions on seismic behavior of ceiling systems. Also, several ceiling design variables such as size, design variations, and interactions with other nonstructural systems are investigated in this study.