Investigation of infill walls effect in buildings

In this study, effect of infill walls, which is not considered as a structural member in buildings, on advantages and disadvantages of dynamic behavior of buildings has been investigated. First, different models of infill walls have been analyzed by using a computer program called SAP2000. For this purpose, different kinds of planar frames were compared under lateral loads by two infill wall models, equivalent diagonal compression strut model and finite element model. Earthquake analysis of a building modeled as 5 and 10 story for different column sizes were carried out. In the building, brick and gas concrete were used as materials of the infill walls. And equivalent diagonal compression strut model was used for the infill walls. The results of analysis were compared for the frames with and without infill walls. In addition, to observe drawbacks of infill walls of 2D and 3D structures, short column effects, soft story and torsional irregularity were investigated. It is found that infill walls have significant effect on stiffness, period, lateral displacement, base shear force and structural behavior.Keywords: infill-walls, earthquake analysis, brick and gasconcrete block, equivalent diagonal compression strut model, short column.