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Received 11 May 2007; received in revised form 28 December 2007; accepted 7 January 2008
Available online 14 February 2008
Abstract
The effect of masonry infills on the seismic response of a four-storey reinforced concrete frame has been studied using the N2 method. The
method is based on pushover analysis and the inelastic spectrum approach. It was recently extended in order to make it applicable to infilled
reinforced concrete frames. In the paper the method is summarized and applied to the deterministic seismic assessment of a four-storey reinforced
concrete frame with masonry infills, with openings and without them. A comparison has been made with the behaviour of the bare frame. The
most common analytical modelling technique, which employs compressive diagonal struts for modelling of the masonry infill, and one-component
lumped plasticity elements for modelling the flexural behaviour of the beams and columns, was applied. The results of the analyses indicate that
the infills can completely change the distribution of damage throughout the structure. The infills can have a beneficial effect on the structural
response, provided that they are placed regularly throughout the structure, and that they do not cause shear failures of columns.
c 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Seismic assessment; Reinforced concrete frame; Masonry infill; Infilled RC frame; Simplified nonlinear analysis
Fig. 3. View, plan, and typical reinforcement of the columns of the example structures.
study the initial stiffness K i was calculated using the simple by the factor o . This approach does not distinguish between
procedure described in ECOEST-PREC 8 Report [19] window and door openings. In our model the strength of the
infill with the opening for the door was arbitrarily reduced
G w L in tw
Ki = , (6) by 50% in order to obtain a better correlation between
Hin the calculated and measured first-storey drift time histories,
where G w is the shear modulus of the wall, determined from especially in the near collapse range. The 50% reduction in the
the diagonal compression test, L in and Hin are the length and case of the door opening is larger than suggested by the results
height of the infill, respectively, and tw is the thickness of the of a recently published experimental study [23]. However, the
wall. configuration of the openings, and especially the frameinfill
For the determination of the strength of the infill a simplified connections, were different in this study.
form of the expression proposed by Zarni c and Gostic [20] was The forcedisplacement envelope of an infill is shown in
used Fig. 4. It was assumed that the ratio between the cracking force
L in tw f t p
q and the maximum force was 0.6, and that the maximum force
Fmax = 0.818 1 + CI + 1 ,
2
was reached at a storey drift of 0.2% for the short infill, 0.15%
CI
for the long infill with a window, and 0.1% for the infill with a
L in door. These values are lower than the drifts at maximum force
C I = 1.925 , (7)
Hin for comparable specimens tested by Colangelo [24]. However,
where f t p is the cracking strength of the infill, obtained from the they are in good agreement with the observed behaviour in
diagonal compression test. A very similar result was obtained the pseudo-dynamic test of the partially infilled frame, where
with the simple alternative expression for the determination of a first-storey drift of about 0.15% was observed at maximum
infill strength [19] force [8].
The strength degradation of the infill was modelled as shown
Fmax = 1.3 f t p L in tw . (8) in Fig. 4. A ratio of 5 between the displacement at collapse
The initial stiffness and strength of the infill according and that at maximum force was arbitrarily assumed. The
to Eqs. (6)(8) apply to the horizontal direction. For the forcedeformation envelopes of the diagonal struts, measured
forcedisplacement envelope of the diagonal strut these values in the horizontal direction, and determined according to the
have to be transformed to the direction of the diagonal. described procedure using the material characteristics and
The influence of an opening, i.e. a door or a window, was geometry of the infills as described in Section 3.1, are presented
taken into consideration by using the factor o , which was in Fig. 5.
introduced by Dawe and Seah [21], and has also been used in Due to the lack of data and uncertainties in the modelling, it
NZSEE [22] was necessary to arbitrarily assume several parameters for the
mathematical model (as described above). However, as shown
1.5L o in the next section, the model was able to simulate closely the
o = 1 > 0, (9)
L in experimental behaviour of the example structures, suggesting
where L o is the horizontal length of the opening. The strength that quite realistic values had been chosen at least for the most
and the initial stiffness of infill with an opening are reduced important parameters defining the mathematical model.
M. Dolsek, P. Fajfar / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 19912001 1995
4.1. General
Fig. 6. The elastic spectrum and ground acceleration for the 475 year return period earthquake.
Fig. 7. Calculated and experimental time-histories for the third-storey drift of the bare frame, and for the first-storey drift of the partially infilled frame.
Fig. 8. Calculated and experimental storey shear versus storey drift relationships for the bare frame (third storey), and for the partially infilled frame (first storey).
Taking into account the test results, it was assumed that spectrum applies to all return periods. Taking into account EC8-
bending controls the structural behaviour of the columns and 3, the demand was represented by ground motions with return
beams, and that shear failures do not occur. This assumption periods of 225, 475, and 2475 years, for the DL, SD, and
cannot, however, be generalized. In fact, shear failure of NC limit states, respectively. In Fig. 9 the elastic acceleration
columns often occurs in RC frames that have not been designed spectra for both locations, for a 2475 year return period, are
according to modern codes. In general, this failure mode needs presented. The peak ground accelerations for all return periods
to be checked.
used in this assessment are summarized in Table 1. Note that
Seismic assessment was performed for two different
in Fig. 9 the periods of the idealized systems representing the
locations of the structures. In the first case the structures were
bare frame (T = 0.83 s), partially infilled frame (T = 0.22 s)
located in a moderate seismic hazard region (MH) in Slovenia.
and the fully infilled frame (T = 0.17 s) are indicated. It can
The second location was a high seismic hazard region (HH)
in southern Italy [25]. An elastic spectrum according to the be seen that the spectral acceleration, which corresponds to the
standard EC 8 [12] for ground type A was chosen. For the bare frame, is only about half of the spectral acceleration, which
sake of simplicity, it was assumed that the same shape of the corresponds to the infilled frames.
M. Dolsek, P. Fajfar / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 19912001 1997
Fig. 9. Elastic acceleration spectra for two locations, for a 2475 year return
period. The natural periods of idealized systems representing the fully infilled
frame (FI), the partially infilled frame (PI), and the bare frame (BF) are
indicated.
Table 1
The peak ground accelerations, ag,YRP , for different return periods, for the
moderate (MH) and high hazard (HH) locations
4.2. Capacity
Table 2
Characteristics of the idealized systems: the yield point (Fy and D y ), the NC
point (FN C and D N C ), the effective mass m , the transformation factor ,
the period of the equivalent SDOF system T , and the maximum base shear to
weight ratio Fy /W , for bare, partially infilled, and fully infilled frame
Fig. 11. The storey drifts for the bare, partially infilled, and fully infilled frame capacity curve of the equivalent idealized SDOF system, the
at the DL, SD, and NC limit states. demand spectra, and their interrelations, can be visualized in the
point. Similar plastic mechanisms had been observed also in accelerationdisplacement (AD) format. In Fig. 12 the capacity
the pseudo-dynamic tests of the bare and partially infilled curves for all three structures, and the elastic demand spectra for
frame [8]. the 2475 year return period for the two locations, are plotted.
For the infilled frames, the DL limit state is controlled The procedure is as follows. First, the elastic displacement of
by the behaviour of the infills. Taking into account the the idealized SDOF system, i.e. the displacement of a structure
defined forcedisplacement envelopes for the diagonal struts with the same period as the idealized system but with unlimited
representing the masonry infill (Fig. 4), all the infills in the strength, is determined. It is defined by the intersection of the
first storey are at the degradation stage at a 0.20% storey drift radial line representing the elastic period of the structure and
for both infilled frames, whereas they have all collapsed at a the elastic spectrum. This intersection also defines the spectral
1.0% storey drift. At this stage, a storey plastic mechanism acceleration of a structure with unlimited elastic behaviour.
has been already formed in the first storey. A much larger drift The reduction factor due to ductility, R, is defined as the
corresponds to the DL limit state in the case of the bare frame ratio between this acceleration and the acceleration at the yield
(0.43%). At this drift some columns and beams have already point of the idealized system Eq. (5). Knowing the period
deformed beyond the yield point. T and the reduction factor R, the ductility demand can
For further analyses idealized pushover curves are needed. be determined from the RT relation, which is specific
They are shown in Fig. 10. The elastic stiffnesses were for the investigated structural system (EC8 or [11] for the
determined based on the equal energy concept for the part bare frame, and [7] for the infilled frames). The complete
of the curve before the capping point. The pushover curves inelastic spectrum can be determined, if needed. The inelastic
of the infilled frames were idealized with a four-linear spectra corresponding to the elastic demand spectra and the
forcedisplacement relationship, as shown in Fig. 10 and ductility demands of the three structures are plotted in Fig. 12.
explained in Section 2. The parameter s amounts to 1.82 Knowing the ductility demand the displacement demand can
and 1.80, and the parameter ru amounts to 0.39 and 0.23 for be easily determined. Demand (performance) points defining
the partially and fully infilled frame, respectively. For the bare the displacement demand of the idealized SDOF system are
frame, a bilinear idealization was made. The values defining indicated in Fig. 12. In the case of the bare frame, which is
the idealized relationships are summarized in Table 2, together idealized by means of an ideal elasto-plastic capacity diagram,
with some other characteristics of the idealized systems: the NC the demand (performance) point is defined as the intersection of
point (D N C , FN C ), the effective mass m , the transformation the capacity diagram and the inelastic demand spectrum for the
factor , the period of the equivalent SDOF system T , and the relevant ductility. For the infilled frames, which are idealized by
maximum base shear versus weight ratio Fy /W . a four-linear capacity diagram, an extension of the horizontal
yield plateau of the capacity diagram should be used, instead
4.3. Demand of the capacity diagram itself, for the determination of the
demand point. The seismic demands in terms of displacements,
Demand was determined for each structure for ground transformed to actual MDOF systems, are indicated in Fig. 10
motions with return periods of 225, 475, and 2475 years, for the three return periods, and for all three example structures.
corresponding to the DL, SD and NC limit states, according The problem can be also reversed. Given the capacity in
to EC8-3. The peak ground accelerations at the two considered terms of drift, it is possible to determine the ground motion
locations (moderate and high seismic hazard) are summarized intensity which would produce a seismic demand equal to
in Table 1. For the bare frame, the original N2 method, a capacity. In such a case, one starts from the displacement
as implemented in EC8, was used. For the infilled frames, demand which is equal to a specified capacity. First the
the extended N2 method [7] was applied. In both cases, the ductility demand and the corresponding reduction factor are
M. Dolsek, P. Fajfar / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 19912001 1999
Table 3
Elastic spectral acceleration Sae,L S and peak ground acceleration ag,L S for the
DL, SD, and NC limit states
LS Bare Partially infilled Fully infilled frame
frame frame
DL 0.16 0.67 1.07
Sae,L S SD 0.47 1.19 1.38
NC 0.54 1.37 1.48
DL 0.13 0.27 0.43
ag,L S SD 0.39 0.48 0.55
NC 0.45 0.55 0.59
capacity at the NC limit state is large enough to accommodate the mathematical model. Simple modelling with equivalent
the demand for the 2475 years ground motion at the moderate diagonal struts, which carry loads only in compression, is able
hazard location. However, in the case of the 2475 years to simulate the global seismic response of the infilled frames,
ground motion at the high hazard location, demand exceeds and is suitable for practical applications.
capacity for all three structures, indicating their failure. When The test examples indicate that the infills can completely
comparing the demand for the 225 years ground motion change the distribution of damage throughout the structure, and
with the deformation capacity at the DL limit state, different that a first-storey mechanism may occur even if the infills are
observations were made. The behaviour of the fully infilled regularly distributed throughout the structure. Nevertheless, the
frame is the most favourable. For this structure, the demand influence of infills on the seismic response of the investigated
at both locations is smaller than the DL capacity not only for structures is beneficial, both at the damage limitation and near
the 225 years ground motion, but also for all other investigated collapse limit states. This conclusion could apply to many
ground motions, with the exception of the 2475 ground motion infilled frame structures, provided that the distribution of the
at the high hazard location. On the other hand, a comparison infills does not cause an irregularity in elevation or plan.
of demand and capacity for the partially infilled and bare frame Furthermore, shear failures due to local shear effects in columns
indicates that the demand for the 225 years ground motion is should be prevented.
larger than the capacity at the high hazard location, whereas
at the moderate hazard location the assessment criterium is Acknowledgements
fulfilled. In the latter case, the demand is much smaller
than the capacity for the partially infilled frame, whereas The results presented in this paper are based on the
demand and capacity are approximately equal for the bare work supported by the Slovenian Research Agency and by
frame. The capacity at the SD limit state, based on the EC8- the European Commission within the 6th Framework project
3 rule, is adequate in all cases (if a very minor difference LESSLOSS (505448-GOCE).
in the case of the partially infilled frame at the high hazard
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