SOME PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE BEHAVIOUR OF R.C. FRAMES DESIGNED FOR GRAVITY LOADS ONLY AND SUBJECTED TO EARTHQUAKES

Abstract

Time history analysis was performed to study the effect of selected parameters in the behaviour of reinforced concrete frames under earthquake loads. The RC frames were designed for gravity-loads only as typically found in most seismic prone countries before the introduction of adequate seismic design code provisions. The parameters considered in this study were the number and span of bays, the number of stories, and the presence of infill wall (full infilled frame and infilled frame with open ground stories). It was observed that the presence of infill wall may affect the seismic behaviour of frame structure to large extent, and the infill wall increases the strength and stiffness of the structure. Also it was observed that infilled frames are preferred in seismic regions than the open ground story ones, because the story drift of first story in open ground story frames is very large than the upper stories, this may probably cause the collapse of structure.