Investigation of Seismic Behavior of Frame-Panel Systems

Implementation of 3D panels in buildings is increasing due to the importance of lightening, optimizing and reduction of fuel consumption. These panels are used as interior, outer, load bearing and partitioning walls beside the structural frame without considering the frame-panel interaction. Steel frames act in shear mode and panel frames act in flexure; hence, combining the two systems will change the structural behavior of each system. So, investigation of the seismic behavior of combined systems using nonlinear dynamic methods seems to be mandatory. In this article, frames with 3, 5 and 10 stories (filled in different bays by panel) were modeled in ANSYS. These frames were then analyzed under Elcentro, Tabas and Naghan seismic records. The results illustrated that using panel not only results in more acceptable drifts, but also it lets the system to have a better seismic behavior and more energy dissipation. For example, the displacements of the structures in the highest level decrease more than 35% by using one bay panel for filling steel frames. This amount of filling also leads to more than 100% increase in the area under the base shear-displacement diagram of a steel frame.