08-10-2014, 04:19 PM
Window and door openings are inevitable parts of infill walls for functional reasons. Currently publications like FEMA-273, ATC-40 contain provisions for the calculation of stiffness of solid infills mainly by modelling infill as a ââ∠âdiagonal strutâââ¬ÃÂ. However, such provisions are not provided for infills with openings. The present study proposes a reduction factor for effective width of diagonal strut over that of the solid infill to calculate the initial stiffness of infills with a window opening. Parametric finite element analysis has been carried out on single-bay single-storey, single-bay two-storey and single-bay three-storey frames in order to examine the effect of central opening of different sizes on the initial stiffness of infill wall. The finite element model has been verified using experimental results of seven different specimens reported in the literature. Based on the parametric studies a reduction factor is proposed to determine the strut width for an opening present in the infill panel. The proposed strut-width reduction factor