Cyclic behavior of semi-rigid steel frame infilled with damping wall panels

Abstract

Semi-rigid connected steel frame is characterized by excellent displacement ductility and energy dissipation capacity, while detrimental infill-frame interaction from the traditional infill would be a key role in seismic behaviors for such steel frames and may damage both infill and steel frame. In this study, the solution to partition the infill with low-strength mortar sliding joints and uncouple the infill from the surrounding frame by flexible connections for the semi-rigid steel frames is presented. Three specimens designed in this context were examined experimentally and numerically. The test results show that the frame with low-strength sliding joints and flexible connections behaves similarly to the bare steel frame, and improves the energy dissipation capacity by about 19.83%. Unlike the semi-rigid steel frame with traditional infill, significant crack of the infill or local stress concentration on the columns is undetected even at a drift ratio of 3.33% in the proposed infilled steel frame. Parametric analysis results confirm that the friction factor of the low-strength sliding joints is the key parameter to improve the lateral bearing capacity of the infill system.