The effect of masonry infill walls on the reinforced concrete frames behavior under lateral load

Abstract

The reinforced concrete structures with masonry infill walls are widely used to construct buildings in Algeria, as in many parts of the world. According to earthquake analysis, this type of construction can undergo serious damage under seismic load. The interaction between the infill wall and the surrounding reinforced concrete structure is considered a key parameter, which could trigger damage and even collapse in self-stable frame buildings. To study the behavior of this type of structures and the wall–frame interaction, four half-scale single-storey, single-bay reinforced concrete unfilled and unfilled frames were constructed and tested under in-plane lateral load. Furthermore, the experimental results were analyzed using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique giving a detailed analysis of displacement and strain fields. The wall–frame interaction was evaluated in terms of displacement field evolution and interface slip in the contact contour. The masonry infill wall demonstrated a significant influence on the in-plane lateral response of this type of structure. The analysis of the results of the experiment are discussed in this paper