Flexural Behavior of Interlocking Compressed Earth Block Shear Walls Subjected to In-Plane Loading

• Main Author: Stirling, Bradley James
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@CalPoly 2011
• Subjects: interlocking compressed earth block; flexural behavior; cyclic testing; nonlinear analysis; Civil Engineering; Structural Engineering
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/593; https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1627&context=theses

This thesis investigates the flexural behavior of interlocking compressed earth block (ICEB) shear walls. In-plane cyclic tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of three flexure dominant large scale ICEB specimens: a slim wall with a 2:1 height to width aspect ratio, a flanged wall, and a wall with an opening at the center. Following the experimental investigation, two types of analyses were conducted for calculating the ultimate strength of flexure dominant ICEB walls: a nonlinear static analysis model assuming lumped plasticity and a plastic analysis model. In addition, incremental dynamic analysis was conducted to address the seismic performance of flexure dominant ICEB buildings. Based on the database from the incremental dynamic analysis, the collapse potential of demonstration ICEB buildings were compared for the countries of interest.