Seismic Performance of Desert-sand Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Block Wall Constrained by Precast Integral Construction Column

Abstract

Considering the structural types and construction techniques used in common residential buildings in Xinjiang, the paper proposes a novel masonry structure, i.e., desert-sand AAC blocks constrained by a precast integral construction column. In order to study the seismic performance of the structure, five wall specimens with different constraints are designed and fabricated and further compared and analyzed in terms of failure mode, hysteretic performance, energy dissipation capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation, and other performance indexes. It has been determined from the results that under horizontal low-cycle repeated loading, the main failure cracks of the desert-sand AAC block wall constrained by the precast integral construction column are intersecting oblique cracks, and the cracks in wall failure penetrate along concrete blocks. The stiffness degradation rate of the wall constrained by the water-resistant gypsum construction column gradually decreases with increasing vertical compressive stress. The wall constrained by the water-resistant gypsum construction column with arranged steel bars has a desirable ductility. Under the same vertical compressive stress, the wall constrained by the water-resistant gypsum precast construction column with arranged steel bars has a significant energy dissipation capacity from cracking to the ultimate state. (4) A restoring force model is built for desert-sand AAC block walls constrained by the precast integral construction column using a three-fold line model, offering technical support for the elastoplastic seismic analysis of structures.