Effect of infill walls on seismic performance of multi-story buildings with shear walls

The effect of infill walls on the seismic performance of multi-story buildings with shear walls that are located in a region with elevated seismic activity is assessed in this paper. An eight-story reinforced concrete building's seismic response is examined in detail, along with various shear wall ratios both with and without infill walls. Applying principles of performance-based seismic design, the study scrutinizes capacity curves and inter-story drift through non-linear analysis to unveil the seismic behavior intricacies. This scrutiny allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the structural performance under various scenarios. In conclusion, the current study underscores the importance of infill walls in improving the seismic performance of multi-story buildings with shear walls. The results demonstrate a significant enhancement in lateral stiffness, leading to a substantial increase in structural rigidity. Additionally, the introduction of infill walls results in a noteworthy reduction in displacement, particularly evident in models with lower shear wall ratios, though this influence diminishes with higher ratios. Infill walls' influence in terms of stiffness, displacement, base shear, and drift emphasizes their significance in enhancing structural stability, making the combined impact of shear and infill walls extremely significant and complex in order to obtain the highest possible structural performance. That being said, as shear ratios rise, this positive impact progressively reduces.