In-plane Shear Strengthening of Masonry Walls after Damage

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of 5 different strengthening materials on damaged Un-Reinforced Masonry (URM) brick walls under an in-plane lateral loading and a predefined uniform vertical load. Five clay brick walls with a dimension of (1200 × 935 × 115) mm were tested then strengthened with plastic mesh, glass fiber mesh, steel mesh, wild cane strips, and chopped steel fibers. The walls were tested again up to failure in order to determine the best material in terms of shear strength and ductility. Two more walls were tested similarly without strengthening to serve as control walls. Based on the experimental results, GM-r (strengthened with glass fiber mesh) had the highest ductility factor of 23.2 and showed the best strength retention amongst the strengthened walls. OG-r (strengthened with wild cane grid) had the highest toughness ratio value of 10.1 even though it is not suitable for exterior walls due to biological factors such as rotting and incompatibility with high moisture areas. SM-r (strengthened with steel mesh) retained 89% of the damaged wall and at the same time inadequate in seismic areas due to its sudden brittle de-bonding failure. Walls PM-r and SF-r lacked strength and ductility retention, respectively, to be considered as a feasible option in sustaining lateral loads.