Aluminum shear panels for seismic protection of framed structures: Review of recent experimental studies

An important experimental campaign on pure aluminum shear panels, to develop new devices for the seismic passive protection of buildings, has been recently carried out at the University of Naples "Federico II" in cooperation with the University "G. d'Annunzio" of Chieti/Pescara. In particular, several pure aluminum shear panels, suitably reinforced by ribs in order to delay shear buckling in the plastic deformation field, have been tested under cyclic loads. The choice pure aluminium, which is really innovative in the field of civil engineering, is justified by both the nominal low yield strength and the high ductility of such a material, which have been further improved through a proper heat treatment. Two different testing layouts have been adopted. In the former, six "full bay" pure aluminum shear panels, having in-plane dimensions 1500x1000 min and thickness of 5 mm, have been taken in consideration. In the latter, four 5 min thick stiffened bracing type pure aluminum shear panels (BTPASPs) with a square shape of 500 mm side length have been cyclically tested under diagonal load. In the whole several plate slenderness ratios have been considered, allowing the evaluation of the most influential factors on the cyclic performance of system. In the current paper a review of the most important results of these recent experimental activities is provided and discussed.