Experimental Cyclic Test of Reduced Damage Detailed Drywall Partition Walls Integrated with a Timber Rocking Wall

ABSTRACT

Bidirectional quasi-static cyclic loading was applied to a subassembly of drywall partition walls integrated with cross-laminated timber rocking walls. Details aimed to reduce seismic damage to the partition walls were investigated, such as slip connections of partition walls to the diaphragm and gap detailing for the wall intersections. Telescoping detailing eliminated damage to the framing at the wall ends compared to traditional slip-track detailing. The distributed gap wall delayed the damage to about 1% inter-story drift. In the corner gap wall, the sacrificial corner bead opened up at low drifts (0.43%), but the wall was damage-free until more than a 2% drift.

KEYWORDS:

• Drywall partition walls
• non-structural components
• cross-laminated timber
• post-tensioned rocking wall
• bidirectional cyclic loading

Acknowledgment

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CMMI-1635363, and 1635227. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors are grateful for wall fabrication provided by Duggan and Marcon Inc and their suppliers and are especially indebted to Ken Loush of Eastern Exterior Wall Systems Inc, who coordinated the entire effort. The authors recognize Lehigh University collaborators and laboratory personnel who assisted with aspects of testing, especially Alia Amer, Darrick Fritchman, Thomas Marullo, Chad Kusko, James Ricles, and Richard Sause.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation [1635227,1635363].