Application of ordinary Fiber-reinforced concrete layer in in-plane retrofitting of unreinforced masonry walls:Test and modeling

The masonry walls should have sucient in-plane strength and stiness to withstand the seismic loads during strong ground shakings. Dierent retrotting techniques have been proposed for improving in-plane behavior of the unreinforced masonry (URM) walls. This study focuses on experimental evaluation and numerical simulation of a simple practical retrotting technique employing Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) surface layer.The simple FRC mix has conventional and available ber, low ber content, ordinary mix design, and applicable construction procedure. Eects of FRC mix properties, including ber type, ber content, and surface layer thickness, on in-plane behavior of masonry panels made up of conventional solid clay bricks are evaluated through experimental study in accordance with ASTM E-519 diagonal tension strength of masonry panels. In addition, a numerical simulation model for this retrotting technique in ABAQUS software is proposedand validated with test results of bare and retrotted panels.