The autoclaved aerated concrete block developed by desert sand is a new type of masonry material.A pseudo-static test considering the different vertical compressive stresses and constraints of structural columns is carried out on four pieces of desert sand wall made of autoclaved aerated concrete block in order to study the application of this new block in village buildings.The failure characteristics i.e.,force-displacement curve,skeleton curve,stiffness degradation curve and ductility of the four walls under low cyclic loading are compared and analyzed.The test results show:1)The wall is mainly shear failure.The main crack of the wall without structural columns runs through the entire wall is about 45 °,and the main crack of the wall with structural columns is in the shape of"inverted eight".And when the vertical compressive stress increases,the seismic capacity of the wall increases,the lateral stiffness improves,but the ductility decreases.2)Under the same vertical compressive stress,comparative analysis shows that the ultimate bearing capacity of the wall with structural columns is increased by about 2.22 times that of plain wall,ductility increased by about 60%,and the stiffness is also improved.3)Based on the principal tensile stress theory and Coulomb failure theory,the calculation formulas for the seismic bearing capacity of the new block wall are established,and the calculation formula of seismic bearing capacity established by Coulomb failure theory is more reasonable in application.4)The skeleton curve of the established restoring force model can reflect the experimental characteristics of the desert sand autoclaved aerated concrete block wall well.
desert sand autoclaved aerated concrete blockstructural columnpseudo-static testseismic performancebearing capacityrestoring force model