FAILURES OF MULTI LAYERED INFILL WALLS DURING SEISMIC EXCITATION

Non-structural element damage or failure that trigger structural members’ collapse are rarely investigated after the earthquakes. Multi-layered infills walls which is one of the non-structural element type are generally constructed with hollow brick as multi layered walls to increase the structural performance and provide heat and sound isolation at Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings. Role of these type of infill walls have been investigated against to seismic response of RC framed buildings with field observations after the earthquakes, all over the world. This study focuses on main reasons of failures of multi-layered infill walls during the May 1, 2003 Bingöl (Mw=6.4) and October 23, 2011 (Mw=7.2); November 9, 2011 (Mw=5.7) Van earthquakes in Turkey. In this paper, in-plane, out-of-plane and combined failure mechanism of this type of walls were investigated and construction rules were suggested.