Strengthening of Unreinforced Masonry Walls with Composite Materials

Abstract

Unreinforced masonry (URM) is considered one of the oldest construction materials being until the end of XIXth century, the basic material for: foundations, walls, columns, volts, staircases, floor joints, roofs, retaining walls, drainage channels, barrages, etc. Construction with URM elements posses a series of advantages such as: fire resistance, thermal an acoustic insulations between interior and outside spaces, humidity resistance. However the URM elements have some significant inconveniences such as: large self weight (heaviness causes cracks in the other elements of structures), reduced mechanical strengths in comparison with other traditional materials (steel and concrete), low tenacity, great manual labor consumptions, and vulnerability to earthquakes. Various factors cause deteriorations which must be overcome by strengthening solutions. Some strengthening solutions based on fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) products applied directly on URM brick walls are presented in the paper