Abstract:
Unreinforced masonry is one of the most popular construction materials in the world. It is also unfortunately, the most vulnerable against earthquakes. Damage to unreinforced masonry buildings has caused huge number of human casualties historically and during recent earthquakes in developing countries. It reveals that development of proper retrofitting technique for masonry buildings, especially existing buildings, is the main challenge to increase seismic safety in those countries. PP-band (Polypropylene band) Technology is a simple, economical and efficient retrofit method developed at International Centre for Urban Safety Engineering (Meguro Lab 2003[1]), Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo. This technology has been developed considering economical affordability and social acceptability together with technical feasibility for masonry buildings in earthquake prone regions. PP-bands are commonly utilized for packing and it is available at a very low price even in remote areas of the world. In order to verify the suitability of the proposed retrofitting technique, an experimental program was designed and executed. From test results, it could be seen that PP-band mesh retrofitting could improve the overall stability and ductility of the structure.
