Lateral behavior of low-rise aluminum alloy frames infilled with composite wallboards

In this paper, cyclic tests were conducted on three specimens to investigate the lateral performance of low-rise aluminum alloy frames infilled with composite wallboards. The test variables were set based on the opening on the composite wallboard and the rise-span ratio. The test phenomena indicated that the failure modes of the three specimens were the fracture of the core material of the composite wallboard and the shearing off of the blind-rivets between the composite wallboards and the aluminum alloy frame. Through the analysis of the data obtained from the strain gauges and the displacement transducers, the high rise-span ratio would lead to a noticeable pinching phenomenon in the hysteresis curves. It is also found that the opening on the wallboard resulted in a significant asymmetric shape in skeleton curves. Furthermore, the increase in the rise-span ratio had more significant impacts on the initial stiffness of the structure, leading to a reduction of 44%. Utilizing the relevant formula, the equivalent viscous damping coefficients for the specimens were calculated, which scaled to 0.2–0.3, 0.15–0.25, and 0.1–0.225, respectively. The lateral load-resisting capacities for the three specimens were evaluated using the characteristic values of load and displacement. And the desirable ductility of the three specimens was concluded for their ductility coefficients exceeding 3. This research aims to provide technical reference for low-rise structures with aluminum alloy frames infilled with composite wallboards.