Shear Strengthening of Concrete Block Masonry Walls Under In-Plane Diagonal Loading Using Fibers

Unreinforced masonry wall (URM) is a traditional method and are widely used all around India. URM can be commonly found in reinforced concrete structures in many earthquake prone countries. Masonry walls are more vulnerable during earthquakes. URM structures are not naturally stable and can generally increase the lateral strength and stiffness of the structural system and thus improve the structural performance up to a certain range of seismic load. Hence, it is essential to find solutions to strengthen URM walls. The present study aims at investigating the in-plane shear behavior of solid concrete block masonry wall and masonry strengthened with GFRP mesh and polypropylene fiber (PP) externally bounded as a reinforcing material. The tests are conducted to determine the optimum percentage of polypropylene fiber. An experimental study is carried out involving a series of masonry walls made of concrete blocks are prepared and are reinforced with GFRP and PP fiber. The wallettes are subjected to diagonal axial compression test according to ASTM E 519-02. The main focus of the study is to investigate the strength characteristics of masonry wall and to know the practical applications of this technique. The strengthening effect caused by the concrete block masonry on in-plane shear behavior including failure modes, shear strength, modulus of rigidity and ductility are investigated. The walls are subjected to in-plane diagonal tensile (shear) test. The shear strength parameters are studied and the application of fibers for strengthening of masonry walls is observed.