Seismic Damage of Nonstructural System in Space Structures

The seismic (especially collapse) of structure and casualties were always paid more attention to after the earthquake. A great deal of manpower and resource have been invested to prevent the failure of structure under severe earthquakes, and the seismic performance of structure was improved obviously. In contrast, the seismic damage of nonstructural system (such as ceiling system) was also severe in the past severe earthquakes, which not only caused the direct economic loss and prevented the people to escape from building in the earthquake, but also influenced the emergency rescue and delayed the reconstruction after the earthquake. In addition, the investment in nonstructural system is always more than the structure in the modern building, especially for the space structure (such as airport terminal) with special function. And the losses caused by the function interruption of nonstructural system were more times than the value of the structure itself after the earthquake. And that the seismic damage not only caused economic loss, but also hampered the earthquake relief. For being used as emergency command center and the shelter, the space structure plays a very important role in earthquake relief and keeps operating normally in and after earthquake. Therefore, the seismic performance level of space structure is more important. Yet research on the seismic performance of nonstructural system in space structure has so far been little, and the standard and guideline is scarce. Besides, it is not clear that who is responsible for seismic performance of nonstructural system (structure engineer or nonstructural designer), and more attention should be paid on seismic performance of nonstructural system in space structure.