Investigation of the Effect of Infills on Reducing the Length of the Shear Wall and Construction Cost

Infills increase the stiffness of their surrounding frame. As a result, infilled frames attract more lateral loads compared to similar frames without infill. Subsequently, infilled frames differ from frames without infills in terms of internal forces and other properties, in addition to stiffness, strength, and period. And after the first cycles of lateral loading and after brittle fracture of infills, these forces are transferred to the frame and cause fracture and crushing of the frame. Furthermore, the asymmetric distribution of infills in the plan increases the distance between the center of stiffness and the center of mass and induces torsion in the structure. In this study, buildings with the same floor plan and different heights (three, five and eight stories) and three different soil types (based on 2800 code) are modeled. For every case, the structure was modeled as a frame without infill, masonry infilled frame and 3D panel infilled frame. Besides, static and spectral dynamic analyses were carried out using ETABS software and the effect of infill on reducing the length of the shear wall and construction cost was examined. Results revealed that the smaller floors, the greater shear wall length reduction trend and this is more in the three-story building. It also reduces the dimensions of the beam and column elements and the amount of rebar by using a 3D panel.