Experimental study on flexural behaviour of FRP retrofitted masonry walls

Abstract

As a part of a large collaborative research project between the Universities of Adelaide and Newcastle in Australia and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, a series of nearsurface- mounted (NSM) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) reinforced masonry wall tests were conducted under lateral out-of-plane bending at Adelaide. In total, fifteen clay brick masonry wall tests were conducted to study the behaviour of NSM CFRP retrofitted masonry walls in flexure and investigate the intermediate crack (IC) debonding failure mechanism in them. This paper presents the results of experimental tests with discussion of the effects of different test parameters such as reverse cyclic loading, axial pre-compression, FRP strip spacing and reinforcement ratio on the stiffness, displacement capacity and ultimate strength of FRP retrofitted masonry walls.