Strengthening on reinforced concrete frames by reinforced concrete infill with openings

In practice structures, which consist of reinforced concrete frames, are frequently strengthened with cast in place reinforced concrete infill. But in some compulsory cases, interior areas of the frames are not filled completely by infills. Therefore openings with different sizes and arrangements are left in reinforced infilled frame's infill. The purpose of this study was to investigate the behaviour of these types of reinforced infilled frames under earthquake loading. For this purpose, nine one bay, one story reinforced infilled frames were tested under reversed cyclic lateral loads that simulate earthquake loading. Size and place of the openings in infills were the main investigated variables. The effect of the size and place of the openings in infills on rigidity, strength, ductility and energy dissipation capacity of reinforced infilled frames were evaluated by using test results. By evaluating the test results, different analytical approaches were investigated. The strength's of specimens were calculated by using regulations and empirical equations that were suggested by researchers. Analytical results were compared with experimental results. Suggestions were constituted for design of reinforced concrete infilled frames with openings that were used for the purpose of strengthening. Science Code :624 03 01 Key Words : Infilled Frames,Reinforced Concrete Infill with Openings, Strengthening, Cyclic Load