Horizontal stiffness of masonry walls infilled frame

Abstract

Walls used to fill a frame structure may serve non-load bearing (visual, acoustic or fire separation) or load bearing and stiffening functions which provide geometrical stability of a structure. They are shear walls without any vertical load from higher floors. This paper proposes an algorithm for determining stiffness of a singular frame area, taking into account standards CSA S304.1-04, FEMA 306 and FEMA 274. An attempt was made to cover all valid standards (EN 1996-1-1:2010 and prEN 1996-1-1:2017) applied for designs.