During an earthquake, damages of non-structural components can prevent the safe occupancy of buildings and contribute largely to the global economic losses. Ceiling systems are among the most common non-structural components, since they are widely installed in public buildings, retails and offices. As demonstrated by the failures reported after seismic events worldwide, ceiling joints are often subjected to damage that ultimately leads to collapse of the ceiling system. While perimeter joints have been assessed in many experimental campaigns, there are limited data regarding experimental and numerical characterisation of inner joints. Moreover, the available experimental results are characterized by elasto-fragile behaviour and concern devices which differ in size and type from the mechanical connections commonly manufactured in Europe. In this work a preliminary numerical study on a full-scale suspended ceiling model has been performed to evaluate the main actions on suspended ceiling joints. Moreover, an extensive experimental campaign has been conducted on a type of the so-called “standard” and “seismic” joints, produced in Europe and installed in different typologies of runners. Specimens were subjected to monotonic and cyclic quasi-static tests, using a similar setup to the ones used in Literature to allow a comparison of the performances obtained. Moreover, numerical models of the joints were developed and calibrated on the experimental results. The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of different types of inner joints and investigate the influence of shape and dimensions of tees to the performance of the connection. The results here presented allows to accurately characterise the behaviour of inner joints and finally enhancing the global seismic behaviour of suspended ceilings.

在地震期间，非结构性组件的损坏会阻止建筑物的安全占用，并在很大程度上造成全球经济损失。天花板系统是最常见的非结构组件之一，因为它们广泛安装在公共建筑，零售和办公室中。正如全球地震事件后报道的故障所证明的那样，天花板接缝经常遭受损坏，最终导致天花板系统坍塌。尽管在许多实验活动中都对周边关节进行了评估，但有关内部关节的实验和数值表征的数据有限。此外，可获得的实验结果的特征在于弹力脆弱的行为，并且涉及与欧洲通常制造的机械连接装置在尺寸和类型上不同的装置。在这项工作中，已经对全尺寸吊顶模型进行了初步的数值研究，以评估对吊顶接缝的主要作用。此外，已经对一种类型的所谓“标准”和“地震”接头进行了广泛的实验，这些接头在欧洲生产并安装在不同类型的跑步者身上。使用与文献中所使用的相似的设置对样本进行单调和循环的准静态测试，以比较获得的性能。此外，开发了接头的数值模型并根据实验结果进行了校准。这项工作的目的是评估不同类型的内部接头的性能，并研究三通的形状和尺寸对连接性能的影响。