This study focuses on non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) frames built outside current practices. These structures are quite vulnerable to collapse during earthquakes. One option to retrofit buildings with poorly detailed RC columns is to construct full-height masonry infill walls to provide additional means to resist loads caused by gravity and increase lateral stiffness resulting in a reduction in drift demand. On the other hand, infill can cause reductions in drift capacity that offset the benefits of reductions in drift demand. Given these two opposing effects, this investigation addresses the following question: are poorly detailed RC frames with masonry infill walls any safer than similar RC frames without infill walls?

SEISMIC STRENGTHENING OF A MID-RISE REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAME USING CFRPs: AN APPLICATION FROM REAL LIFE Tan, Mustafa T&uuml / mer M.S., Department Of Civil Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. G&uuml / ney &Ouml / zcebe Co-Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. BariS Binici May 2009, 162 pages FRP retrofitting allows the utilization of brick infill walls as lateral load resisting elements. This practical retrofit scheme is a strong alternative to strengthen low to mid-rise deficient reinforced concrete (RC) structures in Turkey. The advantages of the FRP applications, to name a few, are the speed of construction and elimination of the need for building evacuation during construction. In this retrofit scheme, infill walls are adopted to the existing frame system by using FRP tension ties anchored the boundary frame using FRP dowels. Results of experiments have previously shown that FRP strengthened infill walls can enhance lateral load carrying capacity and reduce damage by limiting interstory drift deformations. In previous, analytical studies, a detailed mathematical model and a simplified version of the model for compression struts and tension ties was proposed and verified by comparing model estimations with test results. In this study, an existing 9-storey deficient RC building located in Antakya was chosen to design and apply a hybrid strengthening scheme with FRPs and reduced number of shear walls. Linear elastic analysis procedure was utilized (force based assessment technique) along with the rules of Mode Superposition Method for the reftrofit design. FRP retrofit scheme was employed using the simplified model and design was conducted such that life safety performance criterion is satisfied employing elastic spectrum with 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years according to the Turkish Earthquake Code 2007. Further analytical studies are performed by using Modal Pushover and Nonlinear Time-History Analyses. At the end of these nonlinear analyses, performance check is performed according to Turkish Earthquake Code 2007, using the strains resulting from the sum of yield and plastic rotations at demand in the critical sections. CFRP retrofitting works started at October 2008 and finished at December 2008 for the building mentioned in this study. Eccentric reinforced concrete shearwall installation is still being undertaken. All construction business is carried out without evacuation of the building occupants. This project is one of the first examples of its kind in Turkey. Keywords: CFRP, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers, Masonry Infill Walls, Reinforced Concrete Infill Walls, Mid-Rise Deficient Structures, Turkish Earthquake Code 2007, Modal Pushover Analysis, Nonlinear Time History Analysis, Linear Elastic Building Assessment