Page 72 - Demo

72 APPLICATION & CONSTRUCTION AAC WORLDWIDE %u2022 3.2025APPLICATION & CONSTRUCTION(Portland cement: sand) and thin bed mortar. The first one was used on the leveling bed joint and the second on the head joints. Subsequent block courses were laid using only thin bed mortar. A 13 mm tooth was used at end blocks of alternating courses of AAC confined walls. The layout of coupled AAC walls is presented in Fig. 1.The compressive strength of AAC was equal to 4.69 MPa with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.02. The compressive strength of leveling bed mortar was equal to 17.92 MPa with a CV of 0.02. The compressive strength of thin bed mortar was equal to 10.52 MPa with a CV of 0.02. The compressive strength of concrete of vertical confining elements was equal to 27.49 MPa with a CV of 0.05. The compressive strength of concrete of coupling beams was equal to 32.53 MPa with a CV of 0.04.Coupled AAC walls were tested under constant axial load and reverse cyclic lateral loads until failure. Axial loads were applied at the top of the coupled AAC walls. A gravity axial compressive stress of 0.29 MPa was considered for the AAC confined walls. Axial load was applied using a hydraulic actuator and was measured using two donut type load cells. Lateral Fig. 2: Test setup for one-story coupled AAC walls.Fig. 3: Test setup for two-story coupled AAC walls.