Analysis of seismic response of masonry-infilled rc frames through collapse

The assessment of the seismic vulnerability and collapse potential of masonry-infilled RC frame buildings presents a significant challenge because of the complicated failure mechanisms they could exhibit and the number of factors that could affect their behavior. In general, there are two types of analysis methods that can be used to simulate the inelastic behavior of infilled frames. One is to use simplified frame models in which infill walls are represented by equivalent diagonal struts, and the other is to use refined finite element models that can capture the failure behavior of RC frames and infill walls in a detailed manner. However, both types of models have limitations in simulating structural response through collapse. While refined finite element models are not computationally efficient, simplified models are less accurate because of their inability to represent some failure mechanisms that could occur in an infilled frame. In this paper, possible failure mechanisms and causes of collapse of masonryinfilled RC structures are discussed, and both simplified and refined finite element analysis methods that can be used to simulate the inelastic response of these structures and assess their vulnerability to collapse are presented with numerical examples. Additional research and development work needed to improve collapse simulations is discussed.