Continuous Strain Field Estimation for Cast-in-Situ Reinforced Concrete Sandwich Walls Under Cyclic Lateral in-Plane Loading

Abstract

Cast-in-situ reinforced concrete sandwich walls represent a promising solution for energy-efficient housing. Nevertheless, their use in earthquake-prone areas is fairly limited because of the lack of seismic guidelines. Furthermore, the evaluation of seismic response of such a structural typology can be partially considered a still open issue. In this study, the in-plane seismic behavior of cast-in-situ reinforced concrete sandwich walls is investigated through cyclic experimental tests on real scale sandwich walls composed of a central layer of insulating material closed between two external reinforced shotcrete layers. Experimental load-displacement curves and observed damage are briefly described. A special focus on the deformative mechanisms of the walls is dealt with. A hybrid experimental-numerical procedure is proposed,to derive continuous strain fields starting from local discrete experimental measures, with promising preliminary results.