Abstract:
Unreinforced masonry structures are the most vulnerable during an earthquake
because of their low tensile strength and brittle behavior. There is a significant need
to strengthen these structures considering seismic loadings. Much research has been
done to assess the performance of masonry strengthened with different polymers and
steel reinforcements. Ferrocement is proved to be an efficient technique. However,
there is a lack of information about strengthening material optimization in quantity
and geometry. For this purpose, twenty masonry wallets of 600 x 600 x 113 mm are
constructed to investigate this issue. Steel mesh with smaller, larger, and diagonal
grids are used. Also, Polymer mesh with the smaller and larger diagonal grid has been
used. Fifteen samples are tested as strengthened, while the remaining five are tested
as reference samples. For testing, Diagonal tension test (ASTM E-519) has been
followed with a modification of monotonic loading to static cyclic load. Critical
parameters such as Shear strength, Failure modes, Stress-strain curves, Ductility,
Energy dissipation, and drift strains are experimentally investigated. The un-
strengthened samples exhibit highly brittle behavior, followed by steel reinforced
which, showed mild brittle, while one category of steel-reinforced showed highly
ductile behavior. Furthermore, the recommended category of reinforcement increased
the shear strength by 1.34 times, Energy dissipation by 5.7 times, and ductility ratio
by 6.7 times.
