Modeling of RC Moment Frame Retrofit with Mortar Walls Reinforced with Steel Wire Mesh

Current construction codes require detailed analyses for structural retrofitting, which must consider performance during seismic events. Therefore, the computational models used to evaluate existing infrastructure require nonlinear structural analysis and damage estimates. For structural retrofitting, nonlinear computational modeling must represent the connectivity between existing and new elements. This study proposes recommendations on structural modeling based on fiber elements to represent reinforced concrete (RC) moment frames retrofitted with mortar walls reinforced with steel wire mesh. For this purpose, capacity curves of moment frames retrofitted with mortar walls were calculated by hand with the Bernoulli–Euler beam theory, moment–curvature analyses, and a plastic hinge model. Then, these capacity curves were used to calibrate the connectivity and constraint conditions in fiber models between the existing frame and the new wall required to capture the performance of the retrofitted structure. The study found that, for a single wall connected with top and bottom frame border elements, the capacity curves from fiber models underestimate stiffness, maximum strength, and residual strength. These estimation issues are reduced by including intermediate connectivity nodes between the top and bottom frame where rigid link constraints connect the existing frame with the new wall.