Analysis of Partially Infilled Frames

Abstract

The design of building structures is usually carried out without considering the effect of masonry infill. Currently, seismic design codes (Eurocode 8-Part 1, ASCE 41-06) contain provisions for the calculation of stiffness of fully infilled frames mainly by modelling infill as a diagonal strut. However, such provisions are not provided for infilled frames with openings. The main objective of the study was to validate the equations relating the lateral stiffness and masonry modulus for different types of door and window openings, obtained numerically from the literature and propose strut width reduction factors for the same. The methodology adopted was both experimental and numerical analysis. The equations relating masonry modulus and strut width reduction factor for different openings of doors and windows are proposed for wide range of masonry modulus from 500 to 8000 MPa. The proposed equations predict the behaviour of masonry infilled frames with sufficient accuracy.
Keywords: Infilled frames, seismic design codes, lateral stiffness, masonry modulus