Seismic performance of RC frames with EPSC latticed concrete infill walls

Abstract

An expansive polystyrene granule cement (EPSC) latticed concrete wall, which has advantages of higher load-bearing and better environmental-friendly construction, has been widely applied in reinforced concrete (RC) frames to form a new structural system, and its seismic performance has become a hot topic in the field of earthquake engineering. This paper presents the experimental and numerical studies on the seismic performance of RC frames with EPSC latticed concrete infill walls. A full-scale single-storey model structure with openings in the walls, various spacings of steel rebar and binding methods between the walls and the RC frame was designed, and then tested on a shaking table to investigate the seismic performance. A numerical analysis model was constructed using the nonlinear dynamic modelling software ABAQUS. The comparative analysis of the test data and simulation results indicate that the designed RC frame with EPSC latticed concrete infill walls has satisfactory seismic performance, including the good collapse resistance and energy dissipation capacity. Especially the latticed concrete walls can significantly strengthen the RC frame and increase its lateral stiffness, and the model structure undergoes a super-major earthquake with minor inter-storey rotational displacements (only 1/513). Reduction in spacing of bars can delay the growth of cracks in the walls and increase the ductility of the structural system. Both local binding method and through-rebar binding method can effectively restrain the walls. Compared with local binding method, the through-rebar binding method can play an effective role in the out-of-plane stability of the wall, thus improve the integrity of the structural system. The proposed analytical procedure can be also applied in simulating the seismic performance of infilled multi-storey RC frames. To achieve more comprehensive assessment the performance of the RC frames with latticed concrete infill walls, further study on its global and local ductility relationships and the failure model of the infilled multi-storey frame should be carried out.