Performance of Eco-Friendly Fly Ash Bricks Masonry Strengthened With Reinforcement under In-Plane Cyclic Loading

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 focus 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 and objective, thirty-two masonry wallets of 600mm x 600mm x 113 mm are constructed to investigate this issue. The fly ash bricks masonry were used for this purpose. Steel mesh with smaller, larger, and diagonal grids are used. Polymer mesh with the smaller and larger diagonal grid has been used. While additionally samples reinforced with fibre reinforced cementitious mortar (FRCM) and steel mesh have been used. Twenty-seven 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 to static cyclic loading from monotonic load. The in-plane shear strength critical parameters such as Stress- strain, Shear strength, Failure modes, Ductility, stiffness, Energy dissipation, and drift strains are experimentally investigated. The unstrengthened samples exhibit highly brittle behavior, followed by Polyethylene strengthened while the steel and fibre reinforced cementitious mortar (FRCM) with meshes showed ductile behavior, while one category of steel and FRCM showed mild brittle behavior. The SFSFR is only recommended for high shear requirements due to complex application FRCM. Furthermore, the recommended category SFS increased the shear strength by 1.78 times, ductility ratio by 4.5 times and Energy dissipation by 15 times.