Plasterboard partitions seismic performance evaluation via shake table test

Shaking table tests performed to investigate the seismic behaviour of innovative plasterboard partitions at a large scale of intensity levels are addressed in this paper. A steel test frame is properly designed in order to simulate the seismic effects at a generic building storey. An additional concrete mass is fixed on the top of the test frame simulating realistic inertia forces during the shaking. Partitions are inserted within the test frame without fixing them rigidly to the structure; this allows to obtain significant interstorey drift, without inducing large stresses in partitions. The plasterboard partitions exhibit a good seismic behaviour, both in their own plane and out-of-plane, showing light damage up to 0.8% interstorey drift ratio and 2g top frame acceleration. Moreover, a comparison of the dynamic characteristics, i.e. fundamental period and damping ratio, between the bare steel structure and the infilled one is also performed using different dynamic identification methods in order to evaluate the influence the partitions have on the dynamic response of the structures.