Seismic collapse assessment of reinforced concrete frames infilled with hollow concrete bricks

Abstract

Lessons from past earthquakes indicate that infill walls affect the seismic collapse resistance of the frame. However, research on quantifying the effect of infill walls on the frames’ seismic safety is limited. Therefore, this paper focuses on this issue. Firstly, the finite element models of reinforced concrete frame infilled with hollow concrete bricks (HCB) are developed and validated by a laboratory test of a one-span one-story infilled frame. Then, the earthquake-induced collapses of infilled frames are simulated and discussed. The influence of the HCB infill wall arrangement on the seismic collapse resistance of frames with different heights is quantitatively studied. The results indicate that the HCB infill wall reduces the collapse resistance capacity by 24.5% for frames with an open ground floor. In contrast, the improvement in the collapse resistance by infill walls gradually decreases with the increase in structural height for frames with continuous HCB infill walls. The collapse resistance can even be reduced when the frame exceeds eight stories.