, Ashok Kumar R 3

Unreinforced masonry infill has long been known to effect the strength and stiffness of frame. Under the action of lateral load the principal compressive diagonal acts as a strut and increases the initial lateral stiffness of the framed structure. However, in the presence of openings in walls, which is more practical, the behavior of infill changes. Therefore to compensate the effect of openings, stiffeners are provided. The primary objective of this paper is to study the effect of stiffeners on the lateral stiffness of infilled frames with openings. In the study investigation is made on different types of stiffeners. Infilled frames are stiffened by stiffener around the opening and analyzed using ANSYS. From the results obtained, it is observed that stiffness offered by infilled frame increases with an increase in the thickness of stiffener band