# Mechanical Performance of Confined Autoclaved Fly-Ash-Brick Masonry Walls under Cyclic Loading
## 5 Conclusions  
In this study, the authors proposed a new type of assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick masonry wall to extend the application of masonry buildings. The mechanical property and seismic performance of the new type of assembled masonry walls were investigated by experiment and simulation analysis. A low-cyclic loading test of the assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick masonry wall was carried out to verify the correctness of the numerical model. The factors influencing the seismic performance of the wall including mortar strength, opening rate of holes, and vertical compressive stress were analyzed quantitatively based on the bearing capacity, displacement ductility, and stiffness degradation. The methodology and main results are as follows:  
1. The axial compression test of the autoclaved fly-ash-brick columns with different mortar strengths was carried out to obtain their failure mode and deformation characteristics. From the experiment, the stress-strain curve, which provides the constitutive model and material constants for the numerical model of the assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick masonry walls, was built. 2. Two new types of assembled block, which can work as part of the walls and replace conventional templates to improve the seismic performance and shorten the construction period, were proposed to be used in constructional columns and ring beams. 3. The initial stiffness, bearing capacity, and stiffness degradation capacity of the assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick masonry wall were close to those of the cast-in-place brick masonry wall, but the displacement ductility of the former was better than that of the latter. Therefore, the seismic performance of the assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick masonry walls is better than that of cast-in-place masonry walls. 4. With the increase in mortar strength, the bearing capacity and displacement ductility of the assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick walls increased. The stiffness degradation rate of the low-strength mortar masonry wall was large. The low-strength mortar led \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Number**} & **Vertical** & \multirow{2}{*}{**Cracking Load** & **Cracking Load** & **Cracking Displacement** & **Ultimate Load** & **Ultimate Displacement** & **Failure Load** & **Failure** & \multirow{2}{*}{**Alf/Au**} \\  & **Stress (MPa)** & **F\({}_{\alpha}\) (wN)** & **\(\Delta\sigma\) (mm)** & **P\({}_{\alpha}\) (wN)** & **Qu(mm)** & **P\({}_{\alpha}\) (wN)** & **Pligamentament** \\ \hline ZWZ-10 & 0 & 100 & 0.36 & 200 & 4.11 & 174 & 10.77 & 2.62 \\ ZWZ-11 & 0.2 & 134 & 0.42 & 210 & 3.92 & 200 & 8.51 & 2.17 \\ ZWZ-1 & 0.6 & 199 & 0.62 & 303 & 3.16 & 188 & 13.75 & 4.35 \\ ZWZ-12 & 1 & 192 & 0.59 & 285 & 2.71 & 199 & 9.4 & 3.47 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 10: Bearing capacity values of the walls with different vertical compressive stress. to premature cracking, which is unfavorable to the earthquake resistance of walls. Therefore, the 7.5 MPa mortar should be avoided in the aseismic design of masonry structures. 5. With the increase in the hole opening rate, the bearing capacity and the initial stiffness decreased, but the stiffness degradation rate increased. The wall around the holes caused stress concentration, which led to premature cracking and reduced the bearing capacity and stiffness of the assembled autoclaved fly-ash-brick walls. The influence of the opening rate was quantitatively analyzed to provide a reference value for masonry structural design. 6. The seismic performance of the brick walls was poor when the vertical compressive stress was large. Hence, the number of brick masonry structural layers should be limited to reduce the compressive stress. B.W. and L.Z. : formulation, writing, and analysis of the paper. B.W. : Data curation. D.N., G.G., Y.K. and D.L. : Supervision and Validation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.