Influence of Infill on Reinforced Concrete Frame Resting on Slopes under Lateral Loading

Abstract

When compared to traditional reinforced concrete constructions on level surfaces, buildings situated on hills with slopes require additional consideration, particularly when seismic loading is an important factor. In hilly slopes, the ground-level columns of structures have different heights due to the nature of the slope, which leads to a short column effect. This paper represents an experimental and analytical investigation of the behaviour of reinforced concrete frames and their response in sloped regions of hills, in which global retrofitting techniques were adopted by providing solid infill in the short column effect zone for the columns in the same storey of differentheights. Numerical analysis was conducted on how infill affected the short column effect under lateral cyclic loads. It was discovered that compared to bare reinforced concrete frames, masonry infill greatly increased the lateral load-carrying capacity by up to 50%. In the meantime, the frame’s ability to dissipate energy increased linearly. After infill was added to the frame with the short column effect, the reinforced concrete structure’s different reactions, including ultimate load displacement, crack pattern, energy dissipation, and energy absorption, were examined. With the addition of a solid infill, the reinforced concrete structure’s lateral strength and energy dissipation capacity were increased by 2.45 times. The damage development on the reinforced concrete frame with infill and the short column effect was less impacted by lateral stress than the reinforced concrete frame without infill.