In-Plane Seismic Strengthening of Brick Masonry Using Steel and Plastic Meshes

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.