Flexural behavior of textile reinforced mortar-autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete composite panels.

To improve the deficiencies of prefabricated autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete (ALC) panel such as susceptibility to cracking and low load-bearing capacity, a textile-reinforced mortar-autoclaved lightweight aerated concrete (TRM-ALC) composite panel was developed in this study. One group of reference ALC panels and five groups of TRM-ALC panels were fabricated and subjected to four-point flexural tests. TRM was applied on the tensile side of the ALC panels to create TRM-ALC. The variable parameters were the plies of textile (one or two), type of textile (basalt or carbon), and whether the matrix (without textile) was applied on the compression side of panel. The results showed that a bonding only 8-mm-thick TRM layer on the surface of the ALC panel could increase the cracking load by 180%–520%. The flexural capacity of the TRM-ALC panel increased as the number of textile layers increased. Additional reinforcement of the matrix on the compressive side could further enhance the stiffness and ultimate load-bearing capacity of the TRM-ALC panel. Such panels with basalt textile failed in flexural mode, with the rupture of fabric mesh. Those with carbon textile failed in shear mode due to the ultra-high tensile strength of carbon. In addition, analytical models related to the different failure modes were presented to estimate the ultimate load-carrying capacity of the TRM-ALC panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]