Cyclic Performance of Two-Story Ductile RC Frames With Infill Walls

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the experimental and analytical investigations conducted on four 0.8 scale 2-story one bay ductile reinforced concrete frames with infill nonstructural walls subjected to cyclically increasing loads. The material properties and the member sizes of beams and columns in the four RC frame specimens are identical, but with different types of infill nonstructural wall. These four frames are the pure frame, frame with short column, frame with short beam and frame with wing walls. The four RC frame specimens were designed and constructed according to the general prototype building structures in Taiwan. Test results indicate that the ductility behavior of the frames with infill wall is similar to those of the pure frame. The ultimate base shear strength of the frames with infill walls is higher than those of the pure frame. Analytical results show that the proposed simplified multi-linear beam-column element implemented in a general purpose structural analysis program can accurately simulate the cyclic responses of the RC frame specimen incorporating the elastic flexural stiffness computations suggested by the model building codes.