Structural Behavior of Axially Loaded Geopolymer Concrete Sandwich Wall Panel Reinforced with BFRP Grids

Abstract

AbstractA new type of precast concrete sandwich wall panel, consisting of two basalt fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforced geopolymer concrete wythes and an insulation layer, which are connected with hollow tubular glass FRP connectors, is studied in this paper. Ten sandwich wall panels were prefabricated and subjected to concentric axial loading. The primary test variables included slenderness ratio of the wall panel, longitudinal spacing of connectors, and the ratio of the wythe thickness to the insulation layer thickness. The load-deflection relationships, failure modes, and load-strain relationships were carefully investigated. All the wall panels failed by crushing of concrete. The spacing of FRP connectors was found to have a marginal impact on the axial load capacity because of the existence of capping beams at the end of panels. A theoretical second-order analysis was performed to predict the ultimate axial load of equivalently assumed solid wall panels. The effective slenderness ratio of the sandwich wall panel was deduced from the comparison of the theoretically predicted results with the experimental ones.KeywordsPrecast sandwich panelGeopolymer concreteBFRP reinforcementFRP connectorAxial loading