Behavior of RC frames with infill walls strengthened by cement based composites

Abstract

Contribution of infill walls in RC (reinforced concrete) frames is usually ignored in structural analysis. However, both theoretical and experimental research pointed out that infill walls in frames actually improve the load-carrying capacity and behavior of RC buildings. Our experimental study discusses alternative strengthening methods and the potential of an innovative strengthening technique consisting of a fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) system externally applied to masonry infill walls in RC frame buildings. For the experimental study, three 1/3 scale specimens, single bay, infill RC frames strengthened with FRCM were tested under reversed cyclic lateral loads. In order to determine the contribution of FRCM applied on infill walls to the system performance, test results were evaluated considering parameters such as reversed cyclic lateral load carrying capacity, absorbed energy of specimens and failure modes of the specimens. Experimental results showed that FRCM provides significant increase in reversed cyclic lateral load capacity up to 66 %. Copyright © 2015 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).