SEISMIC EVALUATION OF INFILLED REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAMES STRENGTHENED WITH FRPS
There is an urgent need to retrofit the deficient mid-rise reinforced concrete frame buildings in Turkey. For this purpose, an efficient FRP retrofit scheme was developed, in which hallow clay brick infill walls are utilized as lateral load resisting elements. The main premise of this practical retrofit scheme is to limit interstory deformations by FRP strengthened infill walls that are integrated to the boundary frame members through FRP anchors. Based on failure modes and measured deformation limits obtained from a large database of experiments, a diagonal compression-strut and tension-tie model is developed. The model is verified with a number of reinforced concrete frame test results with and without upgrades. Furthermore, results of a case study conducted on a typical building frame revealed that strength levels similar to that of a RC shear wall retrofit scheme can be obtained through the FRP retrofit alternative resulting in a displacement ductility of about four.
Analytical and experimental studies on infilled RC frames
Although hollow brick infills, widely used as partition walls, are considered as non-structural members, experimental studies revealed that hollow brick infills have favourable effects on strength and stiffness of structures. In this work, analytical studies were conducted to investigate the hollow brick infill behaviour, in which infills were modeled by diagonal compression struts. Results were compared with experimental ones obtained from tests of one-bay, one or two story reinforced concrete (RC) frames, tested under both vertical and reversed-cyclic lateral loads simulating earthquake. Test frames have intentionally been constructed poorly to reflect the most common deficiencies encountered in Turkey such as strong beam-weak column connections, insufficient confinement, low-grade concrete, poor workmanship and insufficient lap-splice length. Experimental studies shows that hollow brick infills increased both strength and stiffness of RC frames. Analytical studies conducted, shows that hollow brick infills could adequately be modeled by diagonal compression struts. 
 
   
 
 Key words: Reinforced concrete, strength, stiffness, hollow brick infill, diagonal compression strut and reversed-cyclic lateral load.
Suitability and water quality criteria of an open drainage municipal sewage water at Coimbatore, used for irrigation.
Sanganur canal is the major open drainage system which has intricate linkage with storm water supply, domestic sewage and industrial effluent disposal. Water samples from various stations were collected and analysed for physicochemical parameters to assess the water quality of the Sanganur canal system. The study revealed that physicochemical parameters like pH, EC, TDS, DO, BOD, COD exceeded the permissible limit, clearly indicating the need of proper treatment of waste water before discharge into the Noyyal river.