Seismic damage characteristics and fragility of suspended ceilings in chinese public buildings

The suspended ceilings in buildings are vulnerable to the falling of components such as ceiling tiles and light fixtures in earthquakes. These may lead to economic loss and hamper the quick recovery of the occupancy of buildings after earthquake. Based on the field investigation data on suspended ceilings due to Lushan earthquake of M7.0 in 2013, the seismic damage characteristics of the suspended ceilings in public buildings in China is investigated. The seismic fragility curves are established for suspended ceiling in China in terms of the tile falling ratio and peak floor acceleration under the ‘quick recover’ and ‘hard to recover’ damage states, and compared with the existing fragility curves in the literature for ceilings in the US. The results suggest that the suspended ceilings in China are more vulnerable than that in the US counterparts and the components near the corners and edges are easier to be damaged. The ceilings exhibited a 50% probability of exceeding the ‘hard to recover’ damage state when the floor peak acceleration is approximately 1.1 g.