Experimental study of frame-wall interaction in reinforced concrete structures subjected to strong earthquake motions

The response of frame-wall structures to strong earthquake motions was studied. Each small-scale structure consisted of two three-bay frames and one wall resisting lateral loads in parallel. Measurements included accelerations, displacements, and forces resisted by the interior wall. The response of the test structures was examined in terms of apparent modal properties to evaluate the correctness of using a linear modal analysis with arbitrarily softened member stiffnesses to estimate response of the nonlinearly behaving structures. Internal force measurements were also examined to investigate frame-wall interaction in the nonlinear range of response and to check the reliability of the proposed design method for proportioning individual elements.