Seismic resistant AAC infill masonry: state-of-the-art and future developments

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview on the seismic behaviour of infill walls made by blocks of aerated autoclaved concrete, according to the available literature. Experimental results on the in-plane cyclic performance of infill walls are presented. In addition, numerical simulations of the infill-structure response according to linear and nonlinear static methods are reported. In the last section, experimental and numerical studies on how the infill walls influence the structural behaviour are shown. Recent studies on seismic isolated masonry infills have shown that damages are more serious for fully infilled test samples than for the isolated ones. Although the discussion on out-of-plane stability and strength of isolated infill is still open, the development of solutions able to assure the isolation of infill walls respect to structural frame seem to be the most promising in terms of damage prevention of the building.