Performance evaluation of infilled rocking wall frame structure

Abstract

SummaryConventional reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures are prone to soft‐story mechanism. This deficiency can be eliminated by introducing rocking wall system. Previously studied rocking wall systems usually have the rocking wall situated outside the frame, which results in some challenges and inconvenience. In the study, a novel infilled rocking wall frame (IRWF) system is proposed, which uses infilled RC wall to create a rocking wall within the RC frame. To evaluate seismic performance of the proposed system, both an IRWF model and an RC frame (RCF) model were designed according to Chinese seismic design code. Time history analysis and incremental dynamic analysis were conducted to compare both systems. The results show that IRWF system has more uniform drift and higher collapse margin ratio compared to the RCF system. Economic evaluation of IRWF system was investigated using the state‐of‐the‐art ATC‐58 performance‐based assessment methodology. The result shows superior performance of the IRWF system. The annualized loss of the IRWF model is about 28% less than the RCF model. This shows IRWF system is a viable and efficient alternative resilient seismic force resisting system.