Experimental and numerical investigation of strengthening of openings in masonry walls using steel bars and steel wire mesh

Abstract

This article presents experimental and numerical study of strengthening brick masonry walls loaded with service loads where openings are required to be made, the studied strengthening is made using steel wire mesh or near-surface mounted steel bars. The experimental program consisted of twelve unreinforced brick masonry walls loaded vertically by the service loads; six control walls were not strengthened, three walls were strengthened by steel wire mesh on both faces and steel bars were inserted around the required opening for the last three walls. Three control unstrengthened walls were not opened while openings were made in nine loaded walls; then the load was increased for all walls until failure. The experimental results showed that the applied strengthening methods managed to compensate the decrease of wall capacity due to opening. Numerical modelling and nonlinear analysis were made using finite element analysis software ANSYS v.15; the numerical results showed good agreement with the experimental results. Further, a parametric study was performed to explore the effect of several variables concerning aspects of the wall and strengthening materials. The obtained results demonstrate that the numerical approach can be used to study and design strengthening for load-bearing masonry walls in existing buildings in case it is required to make openings in the walls.