Seismic behavior of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete wall panels

Abstract

AbstractVertical reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) panel systems are among attractive alternatives for low‐rise buildings. The popularity of AAC panels in building construction is increasing due to their unique material properties, such as being light weight, good insulator, fire resistant combined with having high speed of erection and ease of quality control. However, past experimental evidence on the seismic response of reinforced vertical panels is rather limited with few tests on multi‐panel specimens. To overcome this issue, an experimental program was initiated to test six full‐scale AAC wall panel specimens. In the scope of this study, the in‐plane seismic behavior of AAC vertical load‐bearing wall panels was examined under constant axial load and two‐way cyclic lateral displacement excursions. First, the effect of axial loads on lateral behavior of reinforced AAC walls was investigated. For this purpose, four specimens composed of two and four AAC panels with and without axial loads were tested. Then, the effect of window opening was examined by conducting two more tests. The results of the experiments clearly indicated that the axial loads had a positive effect on the load carrying capacity. The window openings reduced the lateral strength and caused localization of the damage. The ultimate drift of the tested panels was found to be around 1%. The ability of estimating the measured moment versus curvature response of the tested specimens were examined for different adjacent panel assemblages. Finally, the code‐proposed equations to determine the lateral load capacity of AAC walls were critically reviewed in light of the experimental results.