Experimental study of a novel lighting support system reinforced with a pulley friction damper

Abstract

The pulley wireway system, a novel lighting support system reinforced with a pulley friction damper, can become an attractive alternative earthquake-resistant for conventional lighting system in the building. The goal of this research was to conduct a thorough evaluation of the seismic energy dissipation capacities of a novel and an existing lighting support systems under artificial earthquakes of varying magnitudes generated using the ICC-ES AC156 standard. This was achieved by conducting tri-axial shaking table tests on two specimens suspended from the same height and using the same connector type. The experimental results demonstrated that the newly developed lighting support system with the damper was effective in reducing the seismic energy and peak oscillation. The effectiveness of the damper was directly proportional to the magnitude of the earthquake, resulting in the excellent adaptability of this innovative system to a wide range of earthquake events.