Seismic fragility of suspended ceiling systems used in NZ based on component tests

Current standards and guidelines for the design and installation of perimeter-fixed suspended ceilings are briefly reviewed and a summary of common damage in recent earthquakes is provided. Component failure fragility curves have been derived following experiments on typical NZ suspended ceilings, considering loading in tension, compression and shear. A simple method to analyse perimeter-fixed ceilings using peak floor acceleration (PFA) is described, allowing for ceiling system fragility to be obtained from component fragilities. This is illustrated in an example of a 5 storey building. It was found that single rivet end-fixings and cross-tee connections were the most critical elements of the ceilings governing the system capacity. In the design examples it was shown that ceilings at different elevations of the structure showed different probabilities of failure and larger ceiling areas with heavier tiles were most susceptible to damage.