Experimental investigation on shear performance of ECC sandwich insulation wall panel with GFRP connectors

Abstract

The problem of high energy consumption in buildings is becoming increasingly prominent. Sandwich insulation wall panel is used to reduce the heat loss of building because it has the same life span as the main structure of the building. Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) is a material with significant multi-crack cracking ability and strain hardening characteristics, and replacing ordinary concrete with ECC as the inner and outer plates of sandwich insulation wall panels contributes to solve the problems of easy cracking and poor durability of the plates. Therefore, starting with the form of GFRP connectors, this thesis studied the influence of different connector forms on the shear performance of ECC sandwich insulation wall panel through experiments, and evaluated its safety. The results show that the specimen with X-shaped connector had the highest vertical shear stiffness and bearing capacity, but its lateral shear stiffness and bearing capacity were very low, which could not be used as a two-way shear connector. The shear stiffness and bearing capacity of the I-shaped connector and the modified X-shaped connector were similar, but the toughness index of the modified X-shaped connector was much higher than that of the I-shaped connector. All connectors could meet the requirements of relevant specifications for shear bearing capacity and deformation. In comparison, the shear performance of the modified X-shaped connector was more excellent.