Numerical seismic performance investigation of AAC infill walls with flat-truss bed-joint reinforcement

Abstract

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) is a lightweight, energy-efficient and easy-to-transport material. As a result, AAC walls are becoming increasingly common as an infill solution in earthquake-prone areas such as Turkey, Italy, and Greece. Although infills are considered as secondary components in seismic design, they are extremely vulnerable to damage during earthquakes along both in-plane (IP) and out-of-plane (OOP) directions. Previous post-earthquake site examinations revealed that the failure of infill walls can result in serious injuries and casualties. Furthermore, huge economic losses as well as disruption in the functionality of essential buildings that are supposed to be operational after earthquakes may adversely affect the daily life in the earthquake-affected regions. One of the potential methods for increasing the seismic resilience of infill walls is use of bed-joint reinforcement between infill courses. In this paper, the general approaches in the establishment of the numerical finite element model for infill walls with and without bed-joint reinforcement are presented. The developed model was evaluated according to the previous full-scale experimental test results from strength and damage propagation point of view. The model will be used to investigate the response of infills with various bed-joint reinforcement amounts and height-to-length ratios to generalize the seismic performance improvements obtained by the use of flat-truss reinforcement both in the IP and OOP directions.