Use of steel wire mesh for compressive strength enhancement of AAC masonry wall

Abstract

Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is an alternate building block but possess a low compressive strength in comparison to the traditional burnt clay bricks. Past earthquakes have shown that the seismic capability of the masonry walls, particularly using low-strength blocks are very weak, and thus strengthening of this masonry is necessitated. Wire mesh is one of the most common and cost-effective strengthening materials. Wrapping the entire surface of the wall with wire mesh is the most adopted technique. However, in large-scale construction, it is un-economical. Thus, the present study investigates the behaviour of AAC masonry wall by embedding the steel wire mesh at the bed joint and bed-head joint of the masonry course. Two types of wire mesh, i.e., (a) chicken wire mesh (CWM) and (b) welded wire mesh (WWM) were employed for the strengthening. Wire mesh was alternately installed at the bed joint of the course of the masonry and subsequently installed at the bed-head joint of the course with proper anchorage using a U nail. The results show that strengthened wall specimens improve the compressive load capacity, energy dissipating capacity, ductility, and stiffness, as well as significantly improving the abrupt failure of the wall specimens. Bed-head joint strengthened specimens outperform the bed joint strengthened specimens in terms of capacities.