MODELING AND ASSESSMENT OF MASONRY INFILLED REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAMES SUBJECT TO ACCIDENTAL COLUMN LOSSES

Robustness of structures is fundamental to limit progressive collapse of buildings in case of accidental loss of columns. This paper presents a numerical study focusing on: a) appropriate fiber-section modeling in OpenSEES of reinforced concrete frames under large displacement progressive collapse events; b) definition of a fiber macro-element model to account for the influence of masonry infills in the progressive collapse response. Proposed numerical models are widely validated with experimental results of pushdown tests. Finally, dynamic column removal tests are performed on a ten-storey building, comparing the responses of bare and infilled frames.