Effects of Nonstructural partition walls on the seismic performance of a medical facility

Contribution of nonstructural partition walls is often assumed negligible in the lateral response of common seismic force resisting systems, however, this assumption becomes un-conservative as the sum effect of individual wall systems are considered. The first phase of the NEES Nonstructural Grand Challenge Project tested full scale light gauge steel studded gypsum partition walls using the University at Buffalo Nonstructural Component Simulator (UB-NCS). Parameters for a tri-linear hysteretic model, aimed at reproducing the in-plane mechanical behavior of partition walls, are determined from the experimentally obtained force-displacement curves. The calibrated partition wall models are combined with the structural model of an existing four story steel moment resisting framed medical facility to demonstrate the effect on dynamic properties. Incremental dynamic analyses, performed according to the ATC-63 methodology, show that including the contribution of steel studded gypsum partition walls to the lateral force resisting system increases the building collapse safety margin.