Seismic Response of RC Frames Infilled with Stone-

Concrete Walls

H. S. Al-Nimry
Senior Designer and Researcher, Royal Scientific Society, Amman, Jordan, Email: nimryh@hotmail.com
N. S. Armouti
Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
A. S. Najmi
Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

Seismic response of ductile RC frames bounding stone-concrete panels is investigated using quasi-
static experimentation. Test specimens were constructed at one-third scale and tested under reversed
cyclic lateral loading. Details of the test specimens, test setup, applied load histories and test results
are presented. Test results show that the infilled frame models exhibit better performance in terms of
maximum load capacity, lateral stiffness and energy dissipation as compared to the bare frame model.
Stone masonry exhibited satisfactory coherence with the back-filling concrete. The rigid stone-
concrete infills enclosed by the RC frame remained nearly intact under static reversals of lateral
loading thereby providing a constant lateral resistance after attaining the peak load capacity. Due to
formation of captive columns, the partial height infill resulted in shear failure of the bounding
columns. Hysteresis loops of the infilled frames exhibited slip and pinching associated with the gap
created between the infill and bounding frame.
KEYWORDS: Infilled frames, Stone-concrete Walls, Seismic, Quasi-static, Ductility, Energy
dissipation.