Methods to Improve Infilled Frame Ductility

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to achieve engineered infilled frames in two stages. The first stage was aimed at discovering methods to raise infilled frames’ ductility, through testing six single-story single-bay infilled steel frames; three general techniques were studied, disregarding their manufacturing details. Results show that supplying a sliding fuse in the infill highly efficiently increases ductility; however, this presents some problems that can be avoided by improving fuse configuration. The second stage of the testing was conducted with two specimens with an improved sliding fuse configuration, in which the influences of fuse sliding strength on the behavior of the infilled frames were studied. On the basis of these results, the infills, provided with frictional sliding fuses, can be considered to be engineered elements of high ductility, of transversal stability, and capable of being adjusted for desired strengths.