Numerical model to account for the influence of infill masonry on the RC structures behaviour

Abstract

It is a common misconception considers that masonry infill walls in structural RC buildings can only increase the overall lateral load capacity, and, therefore, must always be considered beneficial to seismic performance. Recent earthquakes have showed numerous examples of severe damages or collapses of buildings caused by structural response modification induced by the non-structural masonry partitions. From a state-of-the-art review of the available numerical models for the representation of the infill masonry behaviour in structural response, it was proposed an upgraded model. The proposed model is inspired on the equivalent bi-diagonal compression strut model, and considers the non-linear behaviour of the infill masonry subjected to cyclic loads. The model was implemented and calibrated in a non-linear dynamic computer code, VISUALANL. In this paper, it is presented the proposed model and the results of the calibration analyses are briefly introduced and discussed.