Numerical Investigation of Wall Packing Effects on Geotechnical Behavior of Infilled Frames under Lateral Loads

Abstract

Structures are affected by additional forces due to the different lateral loads that may cause foundation failure. Many studies of infilled frames' behavior under lateral loads were performed, but the effect of walls' existence on the foundation’s behavior was ignored. In this work, PLAXIS 3D software was used to study the various factors affecting the foundation of reinforced concrete infilled frames under lateral load. Two specimens of single-story frames consisting of one bay of 3.10 m, width of 0.50 m, and 2.10 m in height, with and without masonry walls were adopted in this study. The effect of walls on the stability of the foundation soil system over sandy soil is investigated to show the improvement of the structure response under lateral loads. The wall stiffness is also investigated in the case of increasing the wall’s inertia. Numerical results indicated that the fully infilled frame has better performance than the bare frame, thus the infilled frame interacts with the surrounding infill walls as a single unit. Results demonstrated that the wall's existence reduced the soil horizontal acceleration and shear strain by 35% and 37%, respectively, compared to the bare frame. As indicated throughout the tests' findings, the wall's existence has a great impact on minimizing settlement and reducing the stress of the foundation. Walls' existence significantly reduced the foundation settlement and stresses by as much as 18.5% and 33%, respectively, from its initial values. Results showed that the utilization of walls has promising outcomes and improves structural stability against the devastating effects of earthquakes.

Keywords

• brick walls
• foundation
• infilled frames
• lateral loads
• plaxis 3d
• sand