Shake table tests for the seismic assessment of hollow brick internal partitions

• A test frame is defined to simulate the seismic effects at a building storey.
• Input accelerograms match the response spectrum for nonstructural components.
• The specimen exhibits significant damage for 0.3% interstorey drift.
• The specimen exhibits extensive damage for displacement close to 1%.
• The setup natural frequency is strongly correlated with the occurred damage.

The collapse of hollow brick internal partitions is one of the most widely reported nonstructural damage after an earthquake, especially in the European area. Full-scale experimental tests on standard hollow brick partitions are described in the paper. In particular, bidirectional shaking table tests are performed in order to investigate the seismic performance of hollow brick partitions, subjecting the partition simultaneously to interstorey relative displacements in their own plane and accelerations in the out of plane direction. A steel test frame is properly defined in order to simulate the seismic effects at a generic building storey. A set of five couples of accelerograms are selected matching the target response spectrum provided by the U.S. code for nonstructural components in order to investigate a wide range of seismic input. Three damage states are considered in this study and correlated to an engineering demand parameter, i.e. the interstorey drift ratio, through the use of a damage scheme. The tested specimen exhibits significant damage for 0.3% interstorey drift and extensive damage for drift close to 1%. The correlation between the dynamic characteristics of the test setup, in terms of damping ratio and natural frequency, and the recorded damage is shown.