Seismic performance of non-structural components and contents in buildings： an overview of NZ research

• Published in: Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1 - 17
• Main Authors: Dhakal, Rajesh P., Pourali, Atefeh, Tasligedik, Ali Sahin, Yeow, Trevor, Baird, Andrew, MacRae, Gregory, Pampanin, Stefano, Palermo, Alessandro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Harbin Institute of Engineering Mechanics, China Earthquake Administration 01-03-2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Building materials; Buildings; Civil Engineering; Control; Dynamical Systems; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earthquakes; Engineering; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Resource allocation; Seismic activity; Seismology; Vibration; 停机时间; 内容设计; 建筑元素; 抗震性能; 新西兰; 结构元素; 结构系统; 非结构构件; New Zealand; cladding; fragility analysis; drywall partition; seismic performance assessment; building contents; non-structural elements; loss estimation; suspended ceilings; experimental evaluation
• ISSN: 1671-3664; 1993-503X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11803-016-0301-9

This paper summarizes the research on non-structural elements and building contents being conducted at University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Since the 2010-2011 series of Canterbury earthquakes, in which damage to non-structural components and contents contributed heavily to downtime and overall financial loss, attention to seismic performance and design of non-structural components and contents in buildings has increased exponentially in NZ. This has resulted in an increased allocation of resources to research leading to development of more resilient non-structural systems in buildings that would incur substantially less damage and cause little downtime during earthquakes. In the last few years, NZ researchers have made important developments in understanding and improving the seismic performance of secondary building elements such as partitions, facades, ceilings and contents.