Seismic Behavior and Design of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Load-Bearing Panel Walls

Since the 1970s, numerous low-rise buildings in Türkiye constructed with AAC load-bearing panels have withstood devastating earthquakes without significant damage, demonstrating a lightweight yet robust solution for seismic regions. This study investigates the seismic performance of AAC load-bearing panel wall systems through material tests, member-level cyclic in-plane testing, and finite element micro-modeling. The experimental results showed that individual panel behavior initiated at low lateral drift ratios of 0.25–0.50%, accompanied by measurable uplift and rocking at panel bases, with flexure governing failure in two-panel walls and combined flexure and diagonal tension–shear governing failure in four- and six-panel walls. Numerical models exhibited adequate reliability in terms of strength, stiffness, and cumulative energy, when validated against experimental data. The load-bearing capacity in the numerical simulations increased with both the number of panels and higher axial loads, consistent with observed experimental trends. These combined findings were used to determine seismic design factors leading to recommended values of D = 2 for overstrength and R = 4 for structural behavior. Experimental results were compared with corresponding design documents, including ACI 523.4 R and the Turkish Building Earthquake Code (TBEC). The findings indicated that flexure predominantly governed the failure of two-panel walls, while combined flexure and diagonal tension–shear mechanisms governed the failure of four- and six-panel walls. Accordingly, a revised diagonal tension capacity expression is proposed for the seismic design of AAC systems in future versions of TBEC.