EFFECT OF MASONRY INFILL FOR REDUCING THE SWAY OF RC FRAME USING FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

Sway of reinforced concrete (RC) frame subjected to lateral load is an important design parameter from serviceability point of view. In Bangladesh, brick infills are used as exterior walls and partitions. Present code of practice does not include provision of taking into consideration the structural effect of infill in multi-storeyed building construction. Yet, the presence of infill increases the lateral stiffness of the structure and reduces the value of sway. For this, if it is taken into consideration, the resulting structure will be economic. Thus, there is a scope of investigation on the importance of infill in a frame structure. In this paper, an investigation based on finite element modeling of reinforced concrete frame in the presence of masonry infill subjected to lateral loads is carried out to study the sway behavior of RC frame. The frame is modeled as a two-dimensional structure using two dimensional frame elements to model beam and columns, and the in-plane stiffness of brick wall, contribu...