In-plane and out-of-plane testing of unreinforced masonry walls strengthened using polymer textile reinforced mortar

Abstract

Details of an experimental program investigating the structural performance of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls strengthened using two different types of polymer textile reinforced mortar (TRM) is presented. The experimental program involved full scale reversed cyclic in-plane and out-of-plane testing of TRM strengthened URM walls. The testing was performed in two series, with series 1 involving in-plane testing of two (03) pier-spandrel assemblages representing part of a perforated URM wall and series 2 involving out-of-plane testing of three (03) slender walls having no penetrations. To replicate the physical characteristics of historic masonry materials, vintage solid clay bricks and a low strength hydraulic cement mortar were used for construction of the test walls. Numerous structural characteristics pertaining to the seismic behaviour of TRM strengthened historic URM walls were investigated and then compared to those obtained from corresponding as-built tested URM walls. In general, strengthened walls exhibited a ductile behaviour until the polymer textile ruptured in a brittle manner. The strength increment due to TRM strengthening was observed to range from 128% to 136% when the URM test walls were loaded in-plane and from 575% to 786% when the URM test walls were loaded out-of-plane, with a notable increment in deformation capacity and ductility.