Shake table tests of a full-scale two-story sheathing-braced cold-formed steel building

•Shake table tests on a full-scale two-story gypsum sheathed-braced cold-formed steel building were carried out.•The building was subjected to white-noise tests and earthquake tests.•The effect of box building behaviour and all finishing elements can increase significantly the seismic lateral resistance.•The maximum inter-storey drift was very small (less than 0.97%) and the residual inter-storey drifts were negligible.•The damage was very small in both structural parts and finishing materials. Shake table tests are particularly indicative to assess dynamic properties and seismic response under earthquakes in the case of a new building structure. In last years the University of Naples was involved in the research project named “Energy Efficient LIghtweight-Sustainable-SAfe-Steel Construction” (Project acronym: ELISSA), which was devoted to the development and demonstration of enhanced prefabricated lightweight CFS skeleton/dry wall constructions with improved antiseismic properties. Within the ELISSA project, in order to evaluate the global building seismic response, shake table tests on a full-scale two-storey building, named “ELISSA mockup”, were carried out. The mockup was tested in two different conditions. In the first condition the mockup included mainly structural components of walls, floors and roof, whereas in the second condition it was completed with all nonstructural components. This paper presents the testing program and the obtained results in terms of dynamic identification (fundamental period and damping ratio) and earthquake performance (global lateral response, building drift, acceleration amplification, diaphragm response, and observed damage).