Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The seismic risk and vulnerability of major cities in modern society have become more complex and increased significantly due to growth in urbanization. Over the past five decades, concerted research effort around the world have led to significant advancements in earthquake engineering of building design, resulting in stronger and safer structures. However, over the same period there has not been a parallel development of improvement in the performance of non-structural building components during earthquakes. Non-structural building components are those building elements that are essential to the operation and function of a building, such as fire protection, water and gas lines, building envelope, mechanical/electrical equipment etc. They typically represent up to 65-85% of the value of a commercial building.     A modern structure designed in accordance with current building codes can be expected to survive a significant earthquake, remaining intact even though it may suffer a controlled amount of damage. In contrast, experiences from major earthquakes have clearly demonstrated that non-structural components are susceptible to suffer significant damage which affect the performance and resilience of their hosting structures. Earthquake losses from damage to non-structural components can exceed losses from structural damage resulting in billions of direct (damage) and indirect (business disruption and downtime) economic losses. Enhanced structural performance through better understanding and development of design methodologies that go beyond life safety but also protect the socio-economic values of buildings is needed. This is especially true for the large stock of existing high-rise buildings (60-300m) and an increasing number of a new generation of super-tall buildings (>300m) being built in Canada and around the world. Given their high value and importance, the damage or loss of function of these super-tall buildings can cause enormous impact to the local, regional and national economies and society.     Among the many different non-structural components in buildings, suspended ceilings are commonly found in both commercial and residential buildings. Suspended ceilings are relatively flexible, long-span and have complex geometry, support and restraint conditions. Failure of suspended ceilings during earthquakes not only poses a serious safety hazard to occupants, but also causes interruption to the operation and function of the building.     A research program to reduce the seismic vulnerability and enhance the resilience of suspended ceiling systems in high-rise and super-tall buildings is proposed. It consists of shake table tests, numerical investigation by computer models of suspended ceiling systems, improvements to evaluation and acceptance criteria and design methods, and development of retrofit measures for ceilings in existing buildings. The research will lead to safer and more resilient buildings making Canada more secure.