Programme: Earthquake Engineering with
Disaster Management MSc
Seismic Analysis & Fragility
Student: Gabriel Bogdan Nitu
Supervisors: Prof. Dina D’Ayala
Mr. Arash Nassirpour
Assessment
UCL Department of Civil, Environmental
and Geomatic Engineering, Gower St,
of Infilled Steel Frame Structures
London ,WC1E 6BT
by means of Pushover Analysis
1.Introduction
Steel moment-resisting frames, infilled with unreinforced masonry
panels, constitute a significant percentage of the residential
building stock in seismically active countries, in addition to an
important volume of public and commercial buildings.
Figure 1 Examples of Masonry Failures
However, due to a combination of factors, infills were not
considered during the design stage of most of this type of
buildings.
Can this omission significantly influence the seismic behavior of
steel frames? If so, is this influence benefic for the building stock?
2. Objectives
The aim of this research project is to investigate the influence of
masonry infilled panels on the seismic behaviour of steel framed
buildings by comparing the post-elastic performance of bare and
infilled steel frames. The investigation will be in terms of static
pushover analysis and also corresponding fragility curves. The
influence of story height, bay length, number of frames and section
sizes will be accounted for by introducing seven sets of building
models.
Also, index fragility curves will be derived for HAZUS building
categories (categorized by building height and structural system),
which will then be compared with the ones presented in HAZUS. It
is worth noting that HAZUS lacks index pushover curves for high-
code moment-resisting frames, a category that is covered by this
present project
3. Methodology
In this study, the influence of the infill walls on the behaviour of
steel MRFs is assessed by means of Static Pushover Analysis.
To start with, a large number of models, 60, were selected to ensure
that the building stock is represented properly by this study. The
models were differentiated by height, structural system and layout.
Then, all the models were designed according to the latest
iterations of European normative, using the finite element package
ETABS v.2015. All the models were then assessed in SeismoStruct
v7.0 in order to obtain pushover curves for each model in part.
Figure 2 Etabs Design (right) and SeismoStruct Assessment(left)
On a case-by-case basis, the pushover curves were analyzed to
attain the values of the engineering demand parameter, the
interstorey drift, that can be best associated to the three damage
limit states selected: Immediate Occupancy, Life Safety and
Collapse Prevention. The pushover curves were then introduced in
FRACAS, along with a suite of 150 ground motions, to obtain the
set of fragility curves corresponding to each building.
Finally, both the pushover curves and the fragility curves were
processed as to attain index curves for each category of buildings.
4. Results
The results obtained after performing the steps mentioned before
show a clear influence of the masonry infill walls on the behavior
of steel moment-resisting frames. On average, the stiffness of
infilled frames was 3.85 times bigger than the stiffness of bare
frames. Also, the infilled models were 80% stronger than their
counterpart, and their maximum attained displacement was 40%
smaller.
In terms of probability of exceedance of a certain limit state, two
building are more difficult to compare. However, considering two
similar models (bare/infilled) were designed for the same spectral
acceleration, a superficial comparison can be made. As such, the
main finding was that the infilled frame model was more prone to
suffering significant damage for the same spectral acceleration.
Figure 2 Obtained Pushover Curves(left) and Fragility Curves (right)
5. Conclusions
• The results show an important increase in stiffness and strength
for the infilled models, and a decrease in ductility, especially for
moment-resisting frames. The increase in stiffness is very
important, as it can lead to a smaller period and therefore higher
seismic forces attracted by the building.
• For braced steel frames, the results were not as significant,
mainly due to the fact that infills act in a similar manner to the
bracings.
• The derived index pushover curves were compared with the
ones presented in HAZUS and they were not similar, which
points towards an evident need for more studies on this topic.
• Fragility curves were derived and analyzed for all the models
selected, and also for sets of buildings.
• Further studies can focus on new methods of deriving the
fundamental period for infill frames, to ensure a proper design
of new buildings. Also, the derived fragility curves can be
implemented in software, so that interested people can take
advantage of them.