AN EVALUATION OF FLOOR RESPONSE SPECTRA FOR ACCELERATION-SENSITIVE NONSTRUCTURAL COMPONENTS SUPPORTED ON REGULAR FRAME STRUCTURES

Abstract

This study evaluates the acceleration response of elastic nonstructural components (NSCs) subjected to earthquake-induced supporting structure motions. The objective is to provide insight into the development of the floor response spectrum (FRS) and its dependence on critical ground motion and structural system parameters such as the ground motion intensity, modal periods of the supporting structure, fundamental period of the NSC, strength of the structure, and location of the NSC with respect to the height of the supporting structure. The focus is on NSCs supported on regular moment-resisting frames. Results indicate that the FRS is highly dependent on the ratio of the period of the NSC to the modal periods of the supporting frame, the level of inelastic behavior of the frames and the location of the NSC. This study demonstrates that in several cases these effects are not adequately represented in floor design spectra recommended by current building codes.