ABSTRACT
Reinforced Concrete (RC) bare frames show flexible behavior when subjected to a lateral load. The addition of infill into the RC frame alters its behavior, and further complexity is added when different materials are used for the infill. During a seismic event, RC frames with infill are subjected to lateral cyclic loading. Thus, it is important to study the behavior of RC frames with different types of infill when subjected to pseudo dynamic loading. The present paper considers three scaled RC frames, comprising of a bare RC frame and RC frames with two types of infills, namely, Autoclaved Aerated Concrete blocks (AAC) and Fly Ash Bricks (FAB). All of the scaled RC frames are subjected to half cyclic pseudo dynamic loading through a lateral load test assembly. The behavior of the bare RC frame and the RC frames with infills is studied in terms of Deformation Capabilities, Lateral Stiffness, Strain Capabilities, Energy Dissipation, and Types of Failures. It has been found that the RC frame with the FAB infill yields the maximum lateral load, followed by the RC frame with AAC blocks infill and the bare RC frame, and inversely for the lateral displacement. Energy dissipation is highest for the RC frame with FAB infill, while it is least for the RC frame with AAC blocks infill. In addition, the maximum stiffness degradation is observed in the RC frame with AAC blocks.
