Experimental and numerical studies on the lateral performance of concrete sandwich walls

Abstract

SummaryA series of quasi‐static tests was presented to study the lateral behavior of concrete sandwich walls and the precast concrete sandwich walls; the finite element analysis (FEA) models were built for numerical simulation of the specimens, and the parameters affecting the seismic performance of sandwich walls, and the precast sandwich walls were also analyzed based on the FEA models. The results show that the shear failure occurs in regular squat shear wall; the setting of the foam plate effectively reduces the stiffness and load capacity, and the reasonable design of sandwich region is conducive to the seismic performance. The responses obtained by the FEA models match well with the experimental results. The stiffness and load capacity of sandwich wall are increased, but the ductility is reduced when the axial load is increased; the deformation capacity can be greatly improved by increasing the aspect ratio but at the cost of load capacity and stiffness; the reasonable match of load capacity, stiffness, and ductility can be achieved by maintaining the appropriate length and thickness of the foam plate. The greater the friction force of CAF in the vertical seam of precast sandwich wall, the greater the load capacity and initial stiffness and the stronger the integrity of the jointed wall. When the strength of SRS in the horizontal seam is small, the concrete sandwich wall basically maintains elasticity; the deformation is mainly concentrated on SRS; when the strength of SRS is too large, SRS do not yield or the yield displacement is large, and the load capacity is mainly affected by the concrete sandwich wall.