Pseudo-Dynamic Tests of 4-Storey Non-Ductile Frames with RC Infilling of the Bay

Three 4-storey reinforced concrete (RC) frames at a scale of 3:4 were converted into slender RC walls by filling the bay between the columns with an RC web of the same thickness, which were pseudo-dynamically tested. The specimens were presumed to belong to a non-ductile frame building, the rest of the building been substructured in the test as elastic. Two code-conforming designs were applied to connect the web to the surrounding frame members. Behavior and failure were dominated by flexure, but U-shaped FRP jackets were necessary at the two edges of the composite wall to avoid premature failure near the base due to poor detailing of columns. Slippage or separation at interfaces between the web and the surrounding frame members were minor for both connection details. In one specimen the critical plastic hinge did not form at the base, but in a horizontal band coinciding with the 1st-storey beam of the frame, where the vertical beam stirrups are much weaker than the vertical wall reinforcement; however, this change in failure mode did not adversely affect the global deformation capacity.