Experimental Evaluation of the Raking Energy in Damping System of Steel Stud Partition Walls

Nonstructural partition walls are usually specified based on the best practice without any structural design calculations. However, given the likely severe earthquake damage to nonstructural components and the substantial cost of repair to such components, it is imperative that we develop an understanding of the seismic response of the nonstructural partition walls when subjected to earthquake loading conditions. The main objective of this investigation is to experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of utilizing low cost damping protection system in improving the seismic performance of the steel stud partition walls. Nine full scale wall specimens of 4.0 ft wide and 8.0 ft high were divided into three groups of different damping systems. Three specimens were constructed with Single Damping System (SDS), three specimens with Double Damping System (DDS) and three wall specimens with No-Damping System (NDS) in order to have a basis for comparison. Wall specimens were subjected to in-plane cyclic loadings for drifts ranging from 0.25” to 2.75” (0.3 to 3% drifts of wall height). Seismic evaluation included both ductility capacity and energy dissipation. Test results revealed that, although, damping does not influence wall capacity, it improves ductility and delays damages to later drifts. Incorporating damping system increased wind load capacity and seismic load capacity by 50 and 700% respectively. Also, ductility factors and cumulated dissipated energy increased by 40 and 112% respectively for SDS and 83 and 137% for DDS. The research study concluded that the low cost protection damping system significantly improved the seismic performance of the partition wall systems.