Effect of Un-reinforced Masonry Infills on Seismic Performance of Hill Buildings

Abstract

The present study investigates the influence of un-reinforced masonry infill panels on the seismic performance of stepback and stepback-setback hill building configurations. Masonry infills are often used for partition in RC frame construction and its significance as a structural element in the analysis and design is generally neglected. Thus, to observe the structural effect on the seismic response of hill buildings, masonry infill panels are modelled as diagonal struts and analysed as truss elements. In all, sixteen models with and without masonry infills are modelled and analyzed by using response spectrum method and dynamic properties are presented and compared within considered configurations. It is observed that masonry infills not only reduce overall storey drift and base shear at different foundation levels but also increase the shear demand in the surrounding frame due to high lateral stiffness when subjected seismic loads. It is concluded that the masonry infill panels entirely change the seismic response of a building and thus, it is important to incorporate these elements in the analysis and design of the building structure, in order to understand the true structural response.