The Influence of the Seismic Action on the RC Infilled Frames

The effects of the masonry panels on the seismic performance of the reinforced concrete frames depend on different factors: the building geometry, the mechanical characteristics of the infill, the intensity of the seismic action.The infills can provide an important contribution to the overall strength and stiffness, saving the building from collapsing in case of high intensity earthquakes.The paper presents a comparative study between infilled RC frames, with different number of stories (from four to seven), subjected to different seismic intensities.The study refers to three structural systems: the bare frame; the infilled frame, with the masonry panel that is isolated from the structure; the infilled frame that interact with the masonry wall.The study consists on carrying-out nonlinear static pushover analysis for each case and comparing the resulting capacity curves.