Abstract:
Unreinforced masonry is one of the most used construction materials in the
world. It is also unfortunately, the most vulnerable during earthquakes. This
combined with the widespread use of masonry in earthquake prone regions
of the world has resulted in a large number of casualties due to the collapse
of this type of structures. Several methods have been proposed to improve
strength, ductility and energy dissipation capability of masonry structures.
However, in developing countries, retrofitting masonry structures should be
economic, should be retrofitting material accessible and should be local
available workmanship used. Also simple construction procedure is needed.
Considering these points, a new retrofitting technique has been proposed
based on the use of polypropylene bands (PP-bands), which are commonly
utilized for packing. This material is available at a very low price even in
remote areas of the world.
To evaluate the beneficial effects of the proposed PP-band mesh
retrofitting method, diagonal compression tests and out-of-plane tests were
carried out on masonry wallettes with and without retrofitting. In diagonal
compression tests, the masonry wallettes were retrofitted with meshes whose
borders were connected with either epoxy or just by overlapping to evaluate
whether the connection type influences the retrofitting performance.
From both tests results, which are highlighted in the paper, it could
be seen that PP-band retrofitted masonry wallettes had larger residual
strength after the first crack in both in-plane and out-of-plane loading. It
was clear that PP-band mesh retrofitting improved the overall stability and
ductility of the structure.
