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This paper presents the concept and seismic performance of "rocking" internal partition walls with the dual-slot track (DST) and aluminium angles tested under quasi-static cyclic drifts. The DST is formed by tek-screwing two tracks of different widths to provide two separate slots for the studs and plasterboards. The horizontal joint, having a vertical gap, between the top DST and the wall allows it to rock up to the desired level of inter-story drift. Three planar wall specimens with plastered (comprising one and three layers of plaster) and sealant joints between the plasterboards remained undamaged until the designed drift level of 0.72%. Moreover, the "y"-shaped wall specimen with sealant joints exhibited a good bi-directional seismic behaviour avoiding significant damage like corner crushing and internal frame damage; hence validating the superior seismic resilience of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the concept, design, construction and seismic performance assessment of internal partition walls with novel slotted and bracketed head-track details. In the slotted head-track walls, the anchors connecting the wall to the slab above are intended to slide within the slot to accommodate the desired in-plane drifts. On the other hand, in the bracketed head-track walls, the story-drift demands are accommodated by sliding of the bolt and flexing of the plastic brackets attached to the slots. In this paper, bi-directional behaviour of a novel flexible bracket is experimentally characterised and a number of wall sub-assemblies with the slotted and bracketed connection details are tested under quasi-static cyclic loading to investigate their seismic performance. The walls with slotted details showed the first signs of damage requiring repair at 0.78% drift. In contrast, when brackets were attached to the slots, the wall remained intact up to 4% drift, demonstrating a superior seismic resiliency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the seismic performance of two 'rocking' internal plasterboard partition wall specimens comprising dual-slot tracks (DST) with a) sacrificial L-trim (SLT) joints and b) boxed end-studs and standard plastered joints investigated under quasi-static cyclic drift demands. The top gap between the top DST and the wall allows it to rock up to the desired level of inter-story drift. The SLT joints between adjacent plasterboard panels failed after the top gap in the DST was exhausted. The plaster cracks in the joints between the in-plane and out-of-plane plasterboard panels occurred early at 0.20% drift. However, the 'rocking' specimen with boxed end-studs exhibited a comparable seismic resilience to partition walls with horizontal seismic gap widths along the partition wall indicating that these gaps can be significantly reduced when the wall is allowed to rock using the DST details for the same inter-story drift capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the bidirectional (in-plane and out-of-plane) cyclic performance of two-storied precast concrete cladding panel assemblies designed to accommodate, through a 'rocking' mechanism, in-plane and out-of-plane inter-story drifts expected in major earthquakes. Two sub-assemblies comprising four rocking precast concrete panels oriented parallel and perpendicular to the loading direction were subjected to quasi-static lateral cyclic inter-story drift demands. The test results show the ability of slotted rocking connections to accommodate the designed 2.00% inter-story drift without any noticeable damage to the panels or their connections. The only damage observed was the partial detachment of the sealant along the bond-line between the panels at 1.40% drift, possibly because of the test being conducted prematurely (only in 9 days) before the sealant had fully cured, and a relatively weak adhesion due to inadequate cleaning of the dusty concrete panel surfaces before the sealant was applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper experimentally investigates the seismic performance of an innovative 'rocking' precast concrete cladding panel system. Quasi-static cyclic loading tests were conducted on a sub-assembly of three 'rocking' panel pairs attached to a 3D steel structure, with and without sealant in the vertical joints between adjacent panels. The sub-assembly included a flat panel pair, an L-shaped panel pair and an oblique corner panel pair. Although the loading was applied in a single direction, the alignments of the panel pairs allowed scrutinizing their in-plane, out-of-plane and bi-directional performances. The test results validated the low-damage attributes of the novel cladding system, which was able to accommodate large cyclic drifts with minor physical damage to the panels and their connections with the structures. Up to a cyclic drift of 4.0%, the only forms of damage observed were tearing of the sealants in between the panel pairs, dislocation of backer rods behind some sealants, dislodgement of a grout piece, and loosening of a nut supporting a corner panel. All these forms of damage are minor and repairable, which can be avoided by making some minor changes to the details of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development (concept, design, detailing, and fabrication) and experimental validation of a novel low-damage precast concrete cladding panel system that can accommodate significant inter-story drift demand through the rocking mechanism of the panels facilitated by smartly designed connections between the panels and the structural members. Two adjacent in-plane panels separated by 'one-stage' sealant joint were subjected to in-plane quasi-static cyclic drifts. The cladding system suffered no damage until 1.92% inter-story drift when the sealant tearing occurred. Furthermore, comparison with the seismic performance of traditional panel connections, reported in the literature, also demonstrated the system's significantly improved seismic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]