Material law to simulate the nonlinear cyclic behavior of infilled RC frames

This paper proposes a novel material law to simulate the hysteretic behavior of masonry-infilled RC frames. The proposed law utilizes a recently proposed methodology that estimates the backbone curve describing the lateral force-vs.-displacement behavior of an infilled RC frame. Developed based on an extensive study of experimental data, the rule can simulate the combined cyclic behavior of the infill and the bounding frame accounting for the stiffness and strength degradation. The proposed model requires a few calibration parameters to predict the nonlinear behavior of infilled frames, values for which are proposed here. The material law is implemented in a nonlinear modeling framework and it is validated with the test results of a recently-tested infilled RC frame. The results indicate a good match between the model-predicted and experimentally-estimated force-vs.-deformation responses.