The structural behavior and design methodology for a new building system consisting of glass fiber reinforced gypsum panels

Glass fiber reinforced gypsum (GFRG) walls are prefabricated large gypsum panels with hollow cores. Developed in Australia in the early 1990s and subsequently adopted by other countries, including China and India, this material is used in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. GFRG walls are used both architecturally and structurally as walls and slabs, with no columns and beams required. They have already found wide application, even without mature structural design codes, largely because of their environmental friendliness. In India, GFRG walls have been approved by the World Bank as being eligible for Carbon Credits under the Kyoto Protocol. GFRG panels are a composite material consisting of gypsum plaster and glass fibers. When the cavities are filled with reinforced concrete, the interaction between the concrete and the GFRG panels produces another composite. As a result, the structural behavior of GFRG walls and the associated building system are more complicated than that of conventional structural systems. This paper presents the results of extensive experimental and theoretical investigations into the structural behavior of GFRG walls, and offers a structural design methodology for GFRG walls and the associated building system. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.