Nonlinear Modeling of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Masonry Wall Strengthened using Ferrocement Sandwich Structure

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) block are used mainly as non-load-bearing walls that provide heat insulation. This results in considerable saving in cooling energy particularly in hot desert environment with large variation of daily and seasonal temperatures. However, due to the relatively low strength there use load bearing walls is limited to single storey and low-rise construction. A system to enhance the strength of the AAC masonry wall in resisting both inplane vertical and combined vertical and lateral loads using ferrocement technology is proposed in this research. The proposed system significantly enhances the load carrying capacity and stiffness of the AAC wall without affecting its insulation characteristics. Ferrocement is made of cement mortar reinforced with closely spaced wire mesh. Full scale wall specimens with height of 2100mm and width of 1820mm were tested with different configuration of ferrocement. A finite elementmodel is developed and verified against the experimentalwork. The results of the finite element model correlates well with the experimental results.