Authors: A. Martins, G Vasconcelos, R. Fangueiro, F. Cunha

Seismic events have been demonstrating the vulnerability of the infill walls inserted in reinforced concrete frames, being important to evaluate reinforcement techniques that can be implemented in existing walls or being built, in order to improve their seismic performance. The present work appears in scope of a study which provides a suggestive adaptation of the conventional materials (FRP) using a fibrous structure composed of braided composite rods (BCR), through of meshes applied on the rendering of the walls using the Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) technique. The out-of-plane behaviour of the masonry can be improved, but an adequate adhesion between mortar and reinforcing materials should be ensured. An experimental campaign was carried in different rods with different surface characteristics through pull-out tests. Thus, it’s possible to select the best typology of rod that can be applied on walls, presenting a suitable behaviour in terms of adhesion, avoiding sliding and brittle failures.

A. Martins¹ | G Vasconcelos¹ | R. Fangueiro² | F. Cunha²
1ISISE, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal
2 Fibrous Materials Researcher Group, University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal