Numerical study of in-plane behaviour and strength of concrete masonry infills with openings

A finite element study was conducted to investigate the in-plane behaviour and strength of concrete masonry infills bounded by steel frames with the focus on the infills with openings. The effect of the size and location of openings on the stiffness and strength of the infilled frames was studied. The results showed that the presence of opening decreased the in-plane stiffness and strength of the infill and the degree of this reduction was associated with the location of the opening. Based on regression analysis on finite element model results, a simple analytical method was proposed to define the relationship between the reduction factor in the stiffness and strength and opening size and location. The efficacy of the proposed equation and other existing analytical models was evaluated using experimental results in the available literature. The proposed method was shown to provide the best overall performance when compared with experimental data for both stiffness and strength estimate. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd: All rights reserved.