In Korea, the earthquakes in Gyeongju (2016) and Pohang (2017) have led to increased interest in the seismic design of nonstructural elements. Among these, the suspended ceiling can cause personal injury and property damage. In addition, most suspended ceilings that are used in Korea neither have seismic design details nor meet the current seismic design standards. There are two seismic design methods for suspended ceilings using a perimeter clip and a brace. In the United States and Japan, seismic design of ceilings is typically used, but the concepts of applying and installing braces are different. This is because the typical ceiling systems are different in the United States and Japan. In this study, a brace-applied ceiling system that is suitable for a suspended ceiling with a steel panel was applied in the indirect suspended ceiling mainly used in Korea. In addition, the seismic performance was verified through a shaking table test. All the specimens were applied with anti-falling clips that are designed to prevent the panels from falling, and they satisfy KDS 41 17 00, which is a Korean seismic design life safety standard. Without considering these factors, the performance level is lower than a nonseismic designed ceiling, which is not properly designed or constructed.

Studies on the constructability of cold-formed steel (CFS) members are lacking. In this context, this paper proposes an integrated panel to replace the studs and steel sheet in the steel-sheathed wall system used in light gauge steel frames. The integrated panel was developed, to not only exhibit better structural performance and constructability than the steel-sheathed wall system, but to also reflect the appropriate details for applications to on-site panel construction. Cyclic loading tests were performed to investigate the seismic performances of three integrated panel specimens and a steel-sheathed panel specimen. The integrated panel specimens exhibited greater deformation capacity, ductility and equivalent damping ratio than the steel-sheathed panel. Although the web slenderness of the integrated member was nearly 400, the nominal strength of the integrated panel was predictable on an AISI standard. However, for stud-reinforced integrated panels, the nominal strength was overestimated by 45%–60%, and a draft equation was proposed to predict the yield strength of these panels. The proposed equation accurately predicted the yield strength of the stud-reinforced integrated panel specimens. The study results can aid in the construction of light gauge steel frames that require reinforcing parts with a high web slenderness ratio.

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