Seismic behavior of insulated hollow-brick cavity walls using quasi-static experimentation

This paper focuses on an experimental investigation of different types of insulated hollow-brick cavity walls, i.e., walls with a door opening, with a window opening and without any opening, characterized with different tie bar arrangements, subjected to slowly applied cyclic loads. The cracking and damage patterns, strength and stiffness degradation and deterioration, energy dissipation capacity and hysteretic feature are analyzed. Based on the experimental results, the formulae of calculation for the cracking load and the ultimate load of cavity wall are mathematically established. The evaluation equation of strength and stiffness degradation of walls is presented and its parameters are numerically given from regression results. The original characteristic curves of recovery force-displacement of actual specimens under cyclic loads are discussed, and then a standard recovery force-displacement model is suggested with convenient forms for implementation.