Moment frame or infill shear walls

[bldgdesign]

Can anyone tell me whether the attached photo is a building constructed as concrete moment frames or concrete frames with masonry infill shear walls? Or a combination. Building was originally constructed in 1958 in Oklahoma City. Obviously it is under renovation but I believe the openings on the near end were filled with masonry.

 

[JrStructuralEng]

It is difficult to tell. But given the slenderness of the columns on the end wall, I would assume the masonry walls were acting as infill shear walls.

One question you might want to ask yourself is even if the building was intended to be designed with concrete moment frames, would they be adequate for today's code requirements? Can you prove that and/or does it currently meet current code requirements. By looking at the extent of renovations you are undertaking, I think the courts would decide it was up to the engineer on record to bring this baby up to code.

I say this assuming that there are no building drawings to review, otherwise I assume you wouldn't be asking the question based on a photo.

 

[csd72]

If the masonry is built up tightly to the frame then they will act as an infill shear wall. It is just a matter of checking if they have adequate capacity.

I posted a file on this a few months ago so I suggest you use the google search at the top of the page to find it.

 

[geoffdale]

I agree that the columns look a little slender to be taking a similar moment as the beams.

 

[vandede427]

agree, columns look too thin to be moment frame columns.