buildings Article Seismic Acceleration and Displacement Demand Profiles of Non-Structural Elements in Hospital Buildings Giammaria Gabbianelli 1 , Daniele Perrone 1,2,* , Emanuele Brunesi 3 and Ricardo Monteiro 1 1 University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy;
[email protected] (G.G.);
[email protected] (R.M.) 2 Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy 3 European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering (EUCENTRE), 27100 Pavia, Italy;
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[email protected] Received: 23 October 2020; Accepted: 11 December 2020; Published: 15 December 2020 Abstract: The importance of non-structural elements in performance-based seismic design of buildings is presently widely recognized. These elements may significantly affect the functionality of buildings even for low seismic intensities, in particular for the case of critical facilities, such as hospital buildings. One of the most important issues to deal with in the seismic performance assessment of non-structural elements is the definition of the seismic demand. This paper investigates the seismic demand to which the non-structural elements of a case-study hospital building located in a medium–high seismicity region in Italy, are prone. The seismic demand is evaluated for two seismic intensities that correspond to the definition of serviceability limit states, according to Italian and European design and assessment guidelines. Peak floor accelerations, interstorey drifts, absolute acceleration, and relative displacement floor response spectra are estimated through nonlinear time–history analyses. The absolute acceleration floor response spectra are then compared with those obtained from simplified code formulations, highlighting the main shortcomings surrounding the practical application of performance-based seismic design of non-structural elements.