DOI: 10.1002/cepa.831 FULL PAPER From experiments to seismic design rules for structures built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete panels Omer Faruk Halici MSc 1 Korhan Deniz Dalgic 1 Ozgun Ozeren 2 Koray Ugurlu 3 Cem Demir 2 Mustafa Comert 4 Alper Ilki 2 1 Department of Civil Engineering, MEF Univer- sity, Istanbul 2 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 3 Turk Ytong Inc. Istanbul 4 RISE Engineering, Istanbul Correspondence Omer Faruk Halici, MSc, Department of Civil Engineering, MEF University, Ayazaga Cad. No.4, 34396 Istanbul. Email: halicio@mef.edu.tr Abstract In the last few decades, many destructive earthquakes have taken place all around the world, causing fatal injuries, loss of lives, and severe damages on structures. A number of innovative con- struction techniques have been developed over the past years to mitigate these casualties. Auto- claved aerated concrete (AAC) is a lightweight, energy efficient building material with satisfactory mechanical properties. Therefore, the use of reinforced AAC panels as load-bearing structural elements in low-rise buildings is a potentially viable alternative to traditional construction prac- tices to build cost-effective structures with adequate seismic performance. In this paper, prelimi- nary results of a number of experimental tests which were executed through a project led by the Turkish Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Association are presented. The experiments include AAC material tests, AAC member tests, and a seismic test of a full-scale building constructed with AAC panel walls and floors. Finally, design provisions included in the new version of the Turkish Seismic Design Code 2018, which were adopted based on these experimental findings, are outlined. KEYWORDS AAC, autoclaved aerated concrete, floor panels, seismic design, wall panels 1 INTRODUCTION Destructive earthquakes pose a threat to the well-being of many nations all around the world. As witnessed in seismic events that took place in Haiti (2010), Sumatra (2004), and Kocaeli (1999), earthquakes can cause a remarkable loss of human lives, fatal injuries, as well as economic recessions. Buildings that are collapsed due to poor con- struction materials and detailing are generally the main reason for casualties that are induced by earthquakes. In recent years, a signif- icant number of innovations in terms of construction methods and materials have been developed to improve the quality and seismic per- formance of structures with the aim of making building environments safer and reducing human life losses. Being a precast, lightweight, energy efficient, fire resistant, and good insulation material, auto- claved aerated concrete (AAC) serves the same purpose and is becom- ing more and more popular all around the world. AAC was primar- ily anticipated as an insulation material; however, there has been increasing interest in the structural characteristics of the material because of its desirable features [1]. The leading advantages of the structural use of AAC are as follows: (1) AAC wall and floor panels are precast and relatively light; therefore, it is easy to handle and c  2018 Ernst & Sohn Verlag für Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. assemble them. This feature helps to reduce the construction time; (2) on account of being produced in a factory environment, the qual- ity control of structural members can be achieved easily and properly, which helps to create safer structures [2]; (3) in addition, due to its mechanical properties, AAC is sufficient to be used as construction material in low-rise structures; and (4) the limited mechanical prop- erties may seem like a hindrance for its use in seismic regions; how- ever, since the impact of inertia forces is directly proportional to the weight of the structure, the use of AAC leads to a reduction in seis- mic inertia forces thanks to its low density. This is a distinctive and very desirable feature for building earthquake resistant structures. A two-story school building made of AAC wall and floor panels which endured the Kocaeli earthquake (M w = 7.4) in 1999 was inspected. Although the location of the structure was very close to the epicen- ter, the structure was announced to be undamaged. A numerical study also verified that internal stresses in AAC panels generated by inertia forces induced by the Kocaeli earthquake (1999) remain under mate- rial strength limits [3]. There are also extensive researches in the liter- ature regarding the seismic behavior of reinforced AAC wall and floor panels under the combined action of vertical and cyclic horizontal loads [4–6]. ce papers. 2018;2:275–282. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cepa 275