Modelling Strategies for the Updating of Infilled RC Building FEMs Considering the Construction Phases

This paper deals with modelling strategies for the updating of Finite Element Models(FEMs) of infilled Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame buildings. As is known, this building typology isthe most adopted worldwide for residential houses and strategic buildings, such as hospitals, schools,police stations, etc. The importance of achieving trustworthy numerical models for these kinds ofstructures, especially the latter ones, is clear. The updating procedure mainly consists in changing thegeometrical and mechanical material properties of models until pre-determined convergence criteriaare verified, the latter based on the comparison between numerical and experimental outcomes. Inthis work, the modelling strategies that can be adopted to refine FEMs of infilled RC buildings aretreated in-depth, starting from the simple model usually developed for design purposes. Modellingtechniques relevant to the geometry, the mechanical properties, the mass, and the restraint conditionsof the model are discussed. Moreover, the approaches that can be adopted to calibrate numericalmodels during the construction process are addressed as well. Then, an application of the proposedstrategies is provided with reference to a real building that was investigated during its construction.The proposed modelling strategies proved to be effective in the model updating of the consideredbuilding and provide useful support for the calibration of FEMs of this building typology in general.