Abstract
Masonry infill walls are one of the main forms of interior partitions and exterior walls in many parts of the world. Nevertheless, serious damage and loss of stability of many masonry infill walls had been reported during recent earthquakes. To improve their performance, the interaction between these infill walls and the bounding frames needs to be properly investigated. Such interaction can dramatically increase the stiffness of the frame in the in-plane direction. To avoid the negative aspects of inappropriate interactions between the frame and infill wall, some kind of isolation needs to be introduced. In this paper, three different configurations have been evaluated by using the general finite element software, ABAQUS. Nonlinear pushover and time history analyses have been conducted for each of the three configurations. Results showed that isolation of the infill from the frame has a significant effect on the in-plane response of infilled frames. Furthermore, adequate out-of-plane stability of the infill wall has been achieved. The results show that masonry infill walls that have full contact at the top of the wall but isolated from columns have shown acceptable performance.
Highlights
Brick masonry walls are subjected to both in-plane and outof-plane loads during an earthquake excitation
Corresponding deficiencies need to be addressed in the earthquake design procedures for unreinforced masonry construction, where the out-of-plane response of walls is a key aspect of the seismic performance of the building [9]
The force-displacement of the model and that of the corresponding specimen shown in Figure 8 are in good agreement, which proves the ability of the model in capturing the response characteristics of infilled frame under out-ofplane loading
Summary
Brick masonry walls are subjected to both in-plane and outof-plane loads during an earthquake excitation. Regarding the in-plane response of infill walls, current design guidelines have different provisions and recommendations for considering the probable effects of masonry infill. Confining effects can affect the out-of-plane response of the infill wall and can lead to a considerable additional lateral capacity beyond first cracking due to arching of an infill wall confined within the frame [12] This behavior was confirmed by Flanagan and Bennett [13] and Asteris et al [14]. A parametric study was conducted to find the effective parameters on the in-plane and out-ofplane responses of isolated masonry infills in a typical steel frame and to find an efficient edge support configuration for the infill wall interface. Effects of different ground motion records, that is, the frequency content, were studied
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