2013 Volume 65 Issue 6 Pages 759-769
Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has become a popular material in the past few decades. It has been extensively used for strengthening and retrofitting of concrete structures. High strength to weight ratio, high initial stiffness, linear elastic behavior and ease in application has made it material of good choice for the seismic retrofitting and strengthening of masonry structure. There are many guidelines proposed by many researchers to determine the amount of FRP based upon the seismic base shear requirements. But, there is no theoretical, numerical and experimental researches to determine the optimum placement and quantity of FRP to reduce the cost of retrofitting.
In this research, an attempt has been made in order to find the optimum quantity and placement of FRP for strengthening brick masonry wall system. Required objectives are achieved by performing diagonal compression test on ten masonry wallets. Masonry wallets were carrying different volume and arrangement of FRP strips. Response of masonry wallets with different volume and configuration of FRP strips are recorded using a digital acquisition system.Experimental results are carefully analyzed in order to propose an optimum and efficient retrofitting procedure of masonry wallets with FRP. Experimental results shows that correct retrofitting scheme can not only increase the efficiency but can also reduce the retrofitting cost and effort.
