Out-of-plane seismic design by testing of Knauf drywall partitions

Past earthquakes have shown that the damage to non-structural elements can severely limit the functionality of most affected buildings and cause substantial economic losses compared to structural damage. Among the non-structural components, the ceiling-partition systems represent a significant investment in construction sector. Nevertheless, their seismic performance is poorly understood, because information and specific guidance are very limited. Since the behaviour of these systems cannot be easily simulated with traditional structural analysis, seismic design by testing is an effective procedure. For these reasons, an experimental campaign has been planned at the University of Naples Federico II with the main aim to characterize the seismic response of different Knauf partition walls and suspended continuous plasterboard ceilings. This paper presents and discusses an experimental campaign involving out-of-plane quasi-static monotonic tests and step-relaxation tests on partition walls, mainly devoted to develop out-of-plane seismic design by testing of Knauf drywall partitions.