Importance of masonry infill walls for framed buildings

The paper presents a study about the effect of masonry infill walls on the behavior of framed buildings, in seismic areas. The study was done for a building that will be built in Bucharest, Romania. In this case, the building will have 6 stories. The bays are narrow, because of the architecture requirements. The structure is composed of concrete frames. The masonry infill walls may assure an enhanced rigidity of the structure. Framed structures in seismic areas tend to have important lateral displacements and great bending moments at the ground floor in columns. It is important to establish the influence those walls have on the structure's behavior.