Effect of Infills on Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Frame structures—A Full-Scale Experimental Study

ABSTRACT

The wall collapse-initiated disaster in infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures has been increasingly concerned by research community recently. This paper studies the seismic performances of a bare RC frame and three RC frames infilled by different lightweight materials in full scale under cyclic loads, including hollow bricks, gypsum blocks, and autoclaved lightweight concrete panels. The main studied performances include lateral resistance capacity, stiffness, wall damage, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity of the frames. Based on the experimental results and literature research, this paper discusses ideal infill materials for RC frame structures and skeleton curve of the frames.

KEYWORDS:

• Lightweight Infills
• Wall Collapse
• Seismic Assessment
• Skeleton Curve
• Failure Mode

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the supports from Department of Housing and Urban and Rural Construction of Sichuan (China), Sichuan Architectural Design and Research Institute (China), China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Corp. Ltd., Chengdu Architectural Design and Research Institute and Chengdu No. 4 Construction Engineering Company.