Influence of Non-structural Components on Equivalent Linearization of Buildings

Influence of non-structural elements on the seismic response of nonlinear systems is hereby investigated. In particular, tail-equivalent linearization has been adopted because of its capability of determining the statistics of stochastic response processes in order to characterize secondary excitation. A random vibration analysis determined a parameter range, characterizing the dynamic properties of non-structural components, for which the linearized system is not influenced by the presence of such devices. Numerical results show that tail equivalent linearization is an appealing strategy for the characterization of secondary seismic excitations.