Seismic Performance of Composite Shear Walls Constructed Using Recycled Aggregate Concrete and Different Expandable Polystyrene Configurations

The seismic performance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) composite shear walls with different expandable polystyrene (EPS) configurations was investigated. Six concrete shear walls were designed and tested under cyclic loading to evaluate the effect of fine RAC in designing earthquake-resistant structures. Three of the six specimens were used to construct mid-rise walls with a shear-span ratio of 1.5, and the other three specimens were used to construct low-rise walls with a shear-span ratio of 0.8. The mid-rise and low-rise shear walls consisted of an ordinary recycled concrete shear wall, a composite wall with fine aggregate concrete (FAC) protective layer (EPS modules as the external insulation layer), and a composite wall with sandwiched EPS modules as the insulation layer. Several parameters obtained from the experimental results were compared and analyzed, including the load-bearing capacity, stiffness, ductility, energy dissipation, and failure characteristics of the specimens. The calculation formula of load-bearing capacity was obtained by considering the effect of FAC on composite shear walls as the protective layer. The damage process of the specimen was simulated using the ABAQUS Software, and the results agreed quite well with those obtained from the experiments. The results show that the seismic resistance behavior of the EPS module composite for shear walls performed better than ordinary recycled concrete for shear walls. Shear walls with sandwiched EPS modules had a better seismic performance than those with EPS modules lying outside. Although the FAC protective layer slightly improved the seismic performance of the structure, it undoubtedly slowed down the speed of crack formation and the stiffness degradation of the walls.