Considerations Regarding the Analysis of Masonry Walls to Horizontal Loads Using Equivalent Frame Method Building

摘要

The paper presentsthe calculus of structural masonry walls with average openings to horizontal loads using the equivalent frame method. The equivalent frame has a number of levels equal to the number of floors of the building, the number of columns equal to the number of piers and connecting beams with constant sections. The geometrical characteristics of the equivalent frame are established from the condition of equality between the wall and frame stiffness when they are subjected to horizontal loads. The efforts from the equivalent frame elements are equal to those in the wall members. The advantage of theproposedmethod lies in the fact that computer software for developing orthogonal frames analysis are used for the statical calculus of the equivalent frame. In the case of 2-D analyis, where every wall is taken individually to simplify the calculus, columns can be chosen as square cross section, while for 3-D analysis the cross section areas of the columns will be rectangular established from the condition of equal stiffness along both building directions