Experimental and numerical assessment of suspended ceiling joints

During an earthquake, damages of non-structural components can prevent the safe occupancy of buildings and contribute largely to the global economic losses. Ceiling systems are among the most common non-structural components, since they are widely installed in public buildings, retails and offices. As demonstrated by the failures reported after seismic events worldwide, ceiling joints are often subjected to damage that ultimately leads to collapse of the ceiling system. While perimeter joints have been assessed in many experimental campaigns, there are limited data regarding experimental and numerical characterisation of inner joints. Moreover, the available experimental results are characterized by elasto-fragile behaviour and concern devices which differ in size and type from the mechanical connections commonly manufactured in Europe. In this work a preliminary numerical study on a full-scale suspended ceiling model has been performed to evaluate the main actions on suspended ceiling joints. Moreover, an extensive experimental campaign has been conducted on a type of the so-called “standard” and “seismic” joints, produced in Europe and installed in different typologies of runners. Specimens were subjected to monotonic and cyclic quasi-static tests, using a similar setup to the ones used in Literature to allow a comparison of the performances obtained. Moreover, numerical models of the joints were developed and calibrated on the experimental results. The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of different types of inner joints and investigate the influence of shape and dimensions of tees to the performance of the connection. The results here presented allows to accurately characterise the behaviour of inner joints and finally enhancing the global seismic behaviour of suspended ceilings.