4.1.1 Interfering Walls

All infill walls placed in moment frames are isolated from structural elements.

For conforming buildings, the evaluator may consider this condition as mitigated, and no calculations are necessary. The deficiency is an inappropriate connection of the wall to the frame. Evaluate the relative strength and stiffness of the walls and frames, considering the nature and size of the joint or connection between the wall and the frame. If the strength of the walls is not commensurate with the stiffness, the building should be treated as Type 7 or Type 10 (Article 2, Section 2.2.3 "Common Building Types"), a frame with infill walls. If the infill walls do not extend the full story height and are not properly isolated from the frame columns, evaluate the column shear demand and capacity, based on a column height equal to the clear distance from the top of the wall to the bottom of the slab or beam above, amplifying the design forces in the short column by C_d/2, but not less than 1.5. The shear demand need not exceed the shear capacity corresponding to flexural capacity of the column, based on a column height equal to the clear distance from the top of the wall to the bottom of the slab or beam above.