Earthquake Damage to Nonstructural Elements of Reinforced Concrete Buildings during 2011 Van Seismic Sequence

AbstractInfill and partition walls as nonstructural elements are generally constructed with hollow brick masonry and briquette as single or multilayered vertical walls. The seismic responses of infill walls and reinforced concrete (RC) framed buildings have been investigated with field observations after earthquakes all over the world. This study focuses on the reasons infill and partition walls failed as a result of the October 23, 2011 (Mw=7.2), and November 9, 2011 (Mw=5.7), Van earthquakes in Turkey. In this paper, in-plane, out-of-plane, and combined failure mechanisms of single and multilayered infill walls enclosed within reinforced concrete structures were investigated, and construction rules were suggested. To limit the failure of nonstructural elements enclosed within an RC frame, design and construction requirements should be included in the seismic code by adopting suitable solutions for both in-plane and out-of-plane behavior. This paper will be a reference for future studies that investigate infill wall damage.