In-plane and out-of-plane behaviour of concrete masonry infills

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Masonry walls have been commonly used to infill steel or reinforced concrete frames either as interior partitions or exterior cladding in modern building construction. Due to a lack of scientific information in assessing the extent of interaction between the infill and the frame, the masonry infill is often treated as non-structural element and the bounding frame is designed for both gravity and lateral loading. The contribution of masonry infills to the frame stiffness and strength is therefore ignored. It is, however, a misconception that ignoring the contribution of the infill is a conservative approach. Infill walls significantly stiffen the frame, which in turn attracts larger forces to the infill region in a structure. Improperly designed Infill walls have been identified as a contributing factor to catastrophic structural failures in earthquakes. On the other hand, properly designed infills have shown to provide significant strength and ductility for the frame system in resisting various types of lateral loads-even after considerable cracking.