Examining Mechanical Properties of Strengthened Aerated Concrete Masonry Walls

Masonry structures primarily rely on their walls as the principal load-bearing components. The walls are brittle materials such as natural stone, sandstone and brick. The walls of masonry structures have lack of the deformation capacity and to resist the tensile stresses caused by earthquake forces, settlement of foundation, and so on. To avoid loss in bearing capacity or to have more strength against lateral loads, during the production or after some precautions can be taken. The aim of this study is to investigate the behavior of strengthened aerated concrete walls by clamps. Six samples were tested under diagonal compression. All tested samples were knitted with mortar advised by the aerated concrete producer. The left five samples were knitted using different orientation of clamps and anchors made out of Ø12 deformed bars and welded plates. According to the experimental test results, it was observed that the interconnection of aerated concrete blocks with different combinations had increased stiffness, energy consumption capacity, and load bearing capacity of the walls. In addition to the brittle behavior of the reference specimen, the strengthened wall specimens have exhibited more ductile behavior.