Numerical modeling of portics filled with masonry to determine the rigidity reduction factor

Abstract

The present paper presents the results of equivalent diagonal widths of masonry in reinforced concrete frames obtained from the equivalent diagonal method (EDM) and numerical modeling via ANSYS. The main objectives of the work were to obtain the masonry stiffness reduction factor and the  behavior analysis of the masonry infill in reinforced concrete frames through numerical modeling via ANSYS Mechanical APDL (considering plane elements). Although it is considered only as a sealing element, the masonry contributes directly to the increase of the global rigidity of the structure and, consequently, the reduction of horizontal displacements. The results of the equivalent diagonal widths, obtained for different modulus of elasticity of the masonry, were different, where the more rigid masonry presented values of diagonal width. The results referring to the stiffness reduction factor in the comparison with numerical expressions from three authors in the literature, although they had a similar graphic trend, were quite different from each other. The results confirm that masonry promotes the reduction of horizontal displacement, being, however, not very influential for wall openings greater than 80%.