Experimental behavior of lintels for AAC masonry buildings: Comparison among different solutions

The paper investigates the experimental behavior up to failure of different types of lintels for AAC masonry buildings. At first, precast highly‐reinforced AAC lintels, that are quite widespread on the European and Turkish market, were tested in flexure, by considering different reinforcement type and arrangement. The second analyzed solution is represented by RC lintels cast within three juxtaposed special AAC elements with U section, acting as formwork and final external finishing. Also in this case, the effect of reinforcement type (lattice girders, ordinary rebars, or a combination of them) and reinforcement amount on the bearing capacity and mode of failure was analyzed. The experimental results highlight that precast AAC lintels available on the market are very light and are characterized by high stiffness in bending; however, being usually over‐reinforced, their failure is quite brittle. On the contrary, RC lintels cast within U‐shaped AAC blocks (“combined AAC‐RC” specimens) are heavier but can be easily designed to have a ductile behavior, by simply following design Standard recommendations for ordinary RC elements.