Assessment of Seismic Capacity of Building Envelope Nonstructural Components

This paper describes an innovative “testing set” for assessing the seismic capacity of building envelopes consisting of a specialized testing equipment and a companion testing protocol. The equipment has been designed for assessing the seismic capacity of either building envelopes or their components, based on a historical review of testing machine for such nonstructural elements. The testing protocol is designed to adapt recent code provisions to building envelopes. The testing set is proposed for both external cladding systems and precast concrete panels’ connections. In the latter case, the experimental activity led to an assessment criterium for the connections seismic design.