SEISMIC DESIGN OF OPEN-STOREY INFILLED RC BUILDINGS

For RC frame buildings with heightwise irregularities of the infills, Eurocode 8 (EC8) requires increasing the resistance of beams and columns in the less-infilled storey(s) in proportion to the deficit in infill strength there. For the columns of the less-infilled storey, a less demanding alternative rule is proposed, based on the observation that bending of the columns in the storeys above and below is often opposite to that in the less-infilled storey. It is proposed then to modify the capacity design rule at beam column-joints, in such a way that the capacity of the column of the more-infilled storey is added to that of the beams rather than to the capacity of the column of the less-infilled (or open) storey. A three-storey two-bay infilled RC test frame was designed on the basis of this concept, for pseudodynamic testing at the ELSA reaction wall facility in Ispra (I), in two configurations, each one with absence of infills from a different storey. Pre-test nonlinear dynamic analyses showing satisfac...