Efficiency of aerated lightweight concrete panels and building under seismic load: an experimental and numerical investigation

This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation of the seismic performance of Autoclave aerated Lightweight Concrete (ALC) panel-filled reinforced concrete framed structure. For this, a full-scale experimental test was conducted on a two-storey reinforced concrete (RC) framed building infilled with ALC panels subjected to lateral quasi-static cyclic loading. The performance of ALC panels on in-plane and out-of-plane walls was in focus to study, especially the structural behaviour of panel walls with and without opening. Furthermore, a numerical model with minute details was presented, and the contribution of ALC panels to the stiffness of the building was assessed. The presented numerical model predicts good agreement with experimental results. In-plane wall panels experienced more damage compared to panels on the out-of-plane wall. Moreover, damage initiation and propagation in ALC panels near the opening were critical. The ALC panel infill frame showed more promising seismic performance.