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Keri Ryan

Drywall partition walls (DPW) could considerably affect the seismic resilience of tall cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings due to cost and building downtime associated with repair. These drift sensitive components are susceptible to... more
Drywall partition walls (DPW) could considerably affect the seismic resilience of tall cross-laminated timber (CLT) buildings due to cost and building downtime associated with repair. These drift sensitive components are susceptible to damage at low shaking intensities, and thus controlling or eliminating such damage in low to moderate earthquakes is key to seismic resilience. Conversely, post-tensioned CLT rocking walls have been shown to be a resilient lateral load resistant system for tall CLT building in high seismic areas.
A series of tests will be performed at the NHERI Lehigh EF to compare the performance of DPWs with conventional slip-track detailing and alternative telescoping slip-track detailing (track-within-a-track deflection assembly), and to evaluate different approaches for minimizing damage at the wall intersections through the use of gaps. Moreover, a configuration is examined with partition wall encapsulating the rocking wall for fire protection. This paper presents a summary of pre-test studies to design the best configuration of DPW to improve the overall
resiliency of the structure.