DIAGONAL COMPRESSION TESTING OF TUFF MASONRY PANELS STRENGTHENED WITH INORGANIC-BASED SYSTEM: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

A significant portion of the structures around the world is made of clay- and tuff-based masonry. These structures are very vulnerable against earthquakes, so their seismic performances need to be improved. In the last two decades, the Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) system was largely used for strengthening of historical masonry structures in alternative for the fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP). In the FRCM-category there is now a composite that includes steel fabric with within an inorganic matrix, namely the Steel Reinforced Grout (SRG). The herein reported experimental campaign was focused on a set of seven small square masonry walls (410x410mm and a thickness of 130 mm) with SRG-retrofitting, while an unreinforced masonry (SC) wall was tested as a control specimen, all the specimens were tested under diagonal compression load. The investigated parameters were the type of reinforcement (FRCM and SRG) and the number of fabric layers (from 1 to 3 layers).