Textile reinforced mortars systems: a sustainable way to retrofit structural masonry walls under tsunami loads

Abstract

Retrofit of existing structures is one of the most demanding and challenging tasks for practitioners. The research community is providing newer solutions and systems improving the compatibility and sustainability both in environmental and conservation fields. Textile reinforced mortars (TRMs) represent a good balance between strength provided by fibres and compatibility of mortars by the matrix. The main aim of the paper is to provide fast assessment tools for the effects of tsunami actions on masonry structures, assuming as main parameter the inundation depth, and to provide a comparably fast tool to design retrofit interventions with innovative strengthening systems. The peculiar multilinear behaviour of systems, like as TRM, is accounted for and some design equations and charts are provided, discussing the peculiarities of the material property variability to orient the designer to coherent and effective decisions; potential uncertainty and variability of substrate masonry are taken into account, too.