Experimental tests on a reinforced concrete frame with polystyrene infills

The aim of this thesis will be to investigate the behaviour of a reinforced concrete frame infilled with polystyrene blocks instead of masonry. This was done by performing a test on a full scale mock-up in a laboratory. After the test, analytical and FEA solutions were presented and compared. Since this is fairly new way of using polystyrene, there are no analytical solutions derived for it, so solutions for masonry infill adjusted for polystyrene material were implemented. Forces coming from the experimental test were larger than the predicted ones. This was due to a thick mortar layer which was applied on both sides of the mock-up and was not taken into account in analytical and FEA solutions. Also all of the material properties used for predicting the behaviour were characteristic values found in literature and not obtained by testing material samples. Even so, behaviour of this frame was very similar to the behaviour of a bare frame as it was expected from the beginning, and makes it easier to use when modelling behaviour of a whole structure.