The current housing shortage problem in the country, especially among the low-income group and the necessity to address their shelter needs, led to the introduction of GFRG (Glass Fibre Reinforced Gypsum) panels in India. These are light-weight, load-bearing walls used for rapid construction of affordable and eco-friendly houses, ranging from individual units to multi-storeyed buildings. The GFRG panels can resist axial, in-plane and out-of-plane loads and various studies conducted worldwide established the suitability of the panel for the construction of walls and slabs. GFRG buildings consist of GFRG walls and slab alone (load bearing system) and can be constructed up to 5-8 storeys in low to moderate seismic zones, and lesser height in higher seismic zones. To facilitate the rapid construction of tall buildings using GFRG panels, it is necessary to incorporate these panels inside RC (reinforced concrete) frames. Thus, it is interesting to explore the possibility of using GFRG panels inside the RC frames.
The current study focuses on the lateral load behaviour of RC frames infilled with GFRG panel with different fillings inside the cavities of the panel and the various ways of connecting the GFRG panel to the RC frame. The cavities of the GFRG panel can either be filled with M 20 concrete (specimen C) or quarry dust and 5% cement mix (specimen Q) or can be left unfilled (specimen D). A modified test specimen and setup, with hinge support, which is capable of representing any arbitrary storey of a building, is adopted for the experimental study. It is established that the failure of the specimen under lateral load is characterised by the failure of the infill wall, with excessive crack formation before the yielding of the frame members. The test results showed the contribution of GFRG panel to the strength, stiffness and other performance parameters of a RC frame