SEISMIC SAFETY OF NONSTRUCTURAL COMPONENTS IN BUILDINGS

Abstract

Nonstructural components are attached to building components and provide them with essential facilities like mechanical services, electrical services etc. They are an important part of a building as they provide it with facilities necessary for its efficient functioning. Masonry infills in a reinforced concrete frame structure are important nonstructural components as they divide spaces and give stiffness to the structure. But more than often they are ignored during the design of a building. This study aims at providing Design aids for performance based design of masonry infills in frame buildings for Indian conditions. Also safety measures for strengthening the infills and enhancing their seismic resistance are suggested. The safe height to thickness ratio for infills have been calculated in the four seismic zones for both the hazard levels, Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) at different levels in a building. The two phenomena considered here are cracking and arching. The height to thickness ratio is very low for the safety of infills against cracking and hence lintel and sill bands are needed to reduce the unsupported height of infills. Analysis.is also done for arching action, so that even if the infill cracks, benefit from arching action can be taken to save the infill from failure. Height to thickness ratios for arching action is calculated for the three performance levels -Immediate Occupancy, Life Safety and Collapse Prevention.details for the different safety measures have been presented. In addition to this, the behavior of suspended ceiling systems has been studied and safety measures for the same in the form of efficient ceiling configurations, anchorage etc. has been suggested. iii