Seismic response assessment of architectural non-structural LWS drywall components through experimental tests

A research project was conducted at University of Naples “Federico II” over the last few years with the aim to give a contribute to overcome the lack of information on seismic behaviour of architectural non-structural lightweight steel (LWS) drywall components, i.e. indoor partition walls, outdoor façades and suspended continuous ceilings. The tested non-structural components were made of LWS frames sheathed with gypsum-based or cement-based boards. The research activity was organized in three levels: ancilliary tests, component tests and assembly tests. Ancilliary tests were carried out for evaluating the local behaviour of partitions, façades and ceilings. Component tests involved out-of-plane quasi-static monotonic and dynamic identification tests and in-plane quasi-static reversed cyclic tests on partitions. Finally, the dynamic behaviour was investigated through shake table tests on different assemblages of partitions, façades and ceilings. The study demonstrated that the tested architectural non-structural LWS drywall components are able to exhibit a very good seismic behaviour with respect to the damage limit states according to the IDR limits given by Eurocode 8 Part 1. The current paper describes the complete experimental activity within the project.