Seismic behaviour of a steel frame partially infilled with precast reinforced concrete wall

Abstract

A steel frame partially infilled with precast reinforced concrete wall (RPWF) is proposed as a new lateral resisting system for building structures. In this system, to achieve partially infilled construction, the precast reinforced concrete wall (RPW) is connected with the steel frame beam only through high-strength bolts. To investigate the seismic behaviour of steel frames strengthened by RPW, three test specimens (one-bay, one-storey and one-third scale) were constructed and tested under constant axial loading and reversed cyclic loading. The length-to-height ratio of the infilled wall was the parameter of the test study. The test results showed that partially infilled steel frames exhibited higher initial stiffness and higher loading capacity than the bare steel frame. The ductility and energy dissipation capacity of the RPWF were increased, whereas the length-to-height ratio of the RPW was decreased. Finally, theoretical and pushover analyses were developed to predict the ultimate loading capacity of the tested specimens, and the accuracy was validated by the test results.