Study on seismic behavior of steel frame with external hanging concrete walls containing recycled aggregates

Abstract The suitability of precast concrete walls containing recycled aggregates as the enclosure system of steel structure was investigated. The experiment on steel frame with external hanging concrete walls containing recycled aggregates (SFECW) was carried out under horizontal low-cyclic loading, and the influence of beam-column joints forms on the SFECW was considered. The failure modes, structural capacity, lateral stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation capacity were analyzed. The experimental results show that the external walls can remarkably increase the structural capacity, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity, and the connecting stiffness of beam-column joints has negligible effect. There were obvious buckling deformation of the steel column base and serious cracking and damage of the wall at the hanging points, and the corresponding suggested improvements were proposed. Furthermore, the load-displacement curves and failure modes of the SFECW were investigated by the finite element method, and the influence of key parameters such as the position of hanging points, the strength grade of recycled concrete, the thickness of wall, the height-span ratio and axial compression ratio on the SFECW were discussed. The FEA results indicate that the design parameters associated with the external wall are less affected to hysteresis performance of the SFECW, which provides scientific basis for the design and practical application of the SFECW.