Experimental and numerical study of novel metal damping ceramsite concrete wall panels

This study proposes a novel metal damping ceramsite concrete wall panel (MCWP) designed to reduce self-weight while improving seismic performance. Quasi-static cyclic tests were conducted on three MCWP specimens: two without internal foam filler (utilizing perforated steel plate dampers and steel bar dampers, respectively) and one with rigid foam filler (using perforated steel plate dampers). For comparison, a conventional ceramsite concrete wall panel (CWP) was also tested. Experimental results indicated severe crack development in both the CWP and the foam-filled MCWP specimens. In contrast, the two MCWP specimens without foam filler exhibited minimal cracking. These two foam-free MCWP configurations demonstrated superior deformation capacity and excellent energy dissipation performance. The hysteretic responses and deformation patterns observed in the experiments correlated well with finite element simulations, validating the rationality and accuracy of the finite element simulations. Numerical results further confirmed that the mechanical performance of the proposed MCWP is significantly influenced by the elastic modulus of the internal foam filler. Consequently, this study demonstrates the favorable deformation and energy dissipation characteristics of the MCWP and provides design recommendations based on parametric analysis.