The suspended roof of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) at Athens, Greece: Laboratory tests and numerical simulations

The behavior of the SNFCC roof suspended by thirty suspension units composed of special springs and dampers is briefly presented and discussed. Each suspension unit lies on top of a twenty-meter high slender steel column, which is supported in turn by the thick reinforced concrete slab at the top-story level of the SNFCC base-isolated main building. At first, the effect of the base isolation system is presented using simplified numerical models. Next, the measured (and successful) performance of a prototype suspension unit as well as of its individual springs and dampers is presented and discussed. This measured performance of the suspension unit is also numerically simulated. Good agreement was obtained between measured and numerically predicted behavior for the tested suspension unit. Finally, the numerically predicted behavior of the entire suspended roof with or without the supporting SNFCC building when subjected to gravity forces combined with a prototype earthquake ground motion is presented and discussed. •The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center structural system includes a base isolation system and a suspended roof.•The suspended roof, which is the focus of this study, includes thirty suspension units composed of special springs and dampers.•Results from laboratory tests with the prototype springs and dampers and with the whole suspension units are presented.•The measured response of all these components is numerically simulated successfully using a variety of numerical models.•Based on these numerical models the behaviour of the whole suspended roof is also predicted numerically.