"Seismic Protection Technologies to Improve the Performance of Nonstructural Components, Equipment and Contents"

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The value of nonstructural components, equipment and contents (NCEC) in a typical commercial building dwarfs the cost of the structure itself. Consequently, a very significant portion of the total potential losses in the event of an earthquake is due to NCEC damage. While satisfying structural performance criteria in a seismic event is imperative to prevent casualties, it is by itself of lesser importance if NCEC performance criteria are not met. Failure to satisfy such criteria can result in possible interrupted operation and costly repairs. Seismic protection technologies, such as seismic isolation and energy dissipation devices, follow an approach to earthquake resistant design that is based on reducing the seismic demand on a structure rather than increasing the seismic capacity of the structure. While it is expected that such technologies will reduce the seismic demand on NCEC, thus improving their performance, the structural engineering community currently does not integrate NCEC in the analysis and performance assessment process. However, as emphasis on performance-based design increases, the new generation of building codes will be shifting away from prescriptive provisions and moving towards performance-based approaches, focusing on system-level performance. This creates an urgent need to generate the necessary knowledge to improve our understanding of the seismic performance of NCEC; and to examine how earthquake protection technologies can be incorporated in the design of buildings to improve the performance of the integral structural-nonstructural system, which includes NCEC. The integration of NCEC performance into the system-level performance assessment will significantly impact the way buildings that feature earthquake protection technologies are designed. The findings of the research program will contribute to seismic isolation provisions in future versions of the NBCC and in the development of the next CSA S832 "Risk Reduction of Operational and Functional Components (OFCs) of Buildings" standard.