Retrofitting of masonry walls by using a mortar joint technique; experiments and numerical validation. (15th June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Chuanlin; Forth, John P.; Nikitas, Nikolaos; Sarhosis, Vasilis
• Is Part Of: Engineering structures. Volume 117(2016:Jun. 15)
• Page Start: 58
• Page End: 70
• Publication Date: 2016-06-15
• Subjects: Masonry wall -- Double-leaf wall -- Strengthening/repairing method -- Earthquake damaged structures; Structural engineering -- Periodicals; Structural analysis (Engineering) -- Periodicals; Construction, Technique de la -- Périodiques; Génie parasismique -- Périodiques; Pression du vent -- Périodiques; Earthquake engineering; Structural engineering; Wind-pressure; Periodicals; 624.105
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.03.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-0296

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: This paper assesses several experiments on single-leaf and collar-jointed masonry walls. This paper performs computational modelling on both single and double leaf walls. It introduces a novel method of retrofitting masonry walls based on a collar-jointed wall addition. The proposed collar-jointed strengthening scheme performance on single-leaf walls is scrutinised. Abstract: This paper presents research on a conventional but practical retrofitting method for masonry walls along with the numerical modelling of it under in-plane lateral shear–compression loading. The latter is capable of predicting the experimental collapse load and overall behaviour quite accurately. The retrofitting approach is based on building a wall parallel to an existing single-leaf wall and bonding the two leaves together using a mortar (collar) joint, merging the two individual panels into a unified double-leaf wall. Experiments on this retrofitting approach for both undamaged and damaged masonry walls have been introduced in the present paper. The tests revealed that the pre-damage application can increase the strength by 50% while the post-damage one can restore the initial strength. A micro-scale numerical model has been devised by considering the bricks as rigid elements and the mortar joint as a nonlinear failure surface. The model was implemented in the commercial Finite Element (FE) software MIDAS FEA and the numerical results were verified against the available experimental data.