Experimental Study on the Feasibility of Disassembling and Reusing Lightweight Façade Wall Systems

Abstract

This paper presents experimental investigations into the feasibility of disassembling and reusing exterior lightweight infill walls. The work stems as necessary steps towards the advancement of circular economy principles in future constructions. The experiment employed the single-shear test method commonly used to assess the shear strength of steel connections. The test samples consisted of cold-formed steel plates attached to hot-rolled steel plates, connected by screws. The cold-formed steel plate represents the track, a component of exterior lightweight infill walls, while the hot-rolled steel plate represents the beams of the primary structural frame. In total, twenty-one specimens were made: nine were tested after screwing, nine were tested after unscrewing and re-screwing, and three were tested after unscrewing, re-screwing, unscrewing, and re-screwing. The unscrewing step demonstrates the disassembly of the infill walls, while the re-screwing demonstrates their reuse. The experimental results revealed that the average peak strengths of the samples with different connections exhibited negligible differences. This can be attributed to the interaction between the screws and the connected cold-formed steel and hot-rolled steel plates, a mechanism further discussed in this paper. The test outcomes imply that exterior lightweight infill walls can be disassembled from the primary structural frame’s beams after the infill walls’ service life, and subsequently reused in the construction of other exterior lightweight infill walls. The study also demonstrated that more specimens should be tested to confirm the observation.