Evaluation of shear behaviour of masonry walls strengthened by FRP laminates and shotcrete

Extensive damages in a large number of existing buildings under in-plane shear has shown the need of structural strengthening techniques for masonry structures. FRP and shotcrete are strengthening techniques which can be used to repair or strengthen masonry structures. Masonry walls strengthened with FRP and shotcrete can greatly increase some behaviour parameters such as strength, energy absorption and stiffness, but the comparison and effect of single-faced FRP and shotcrete layers on shear behavior of masonry walls under lateral loads have not been studied so far. In this research in order to evaluate and validate numerical modelling approaches, two kinds of experimental masonry wall models made by clay bricks and concrete blocks strengthened by FRP and shotcrete were introduced. At the end, modelling and analysis of six walls under lateral loads using the nonlinear analysis of pushover in Abaqus software has been investigated. The results of the analysis show the feasible effect of strengthening unreinforced walls with single-faced shotcrete and FRP, so that the stiffness and strength of the wall increases significantly due to the addition of shotcrete to one side of the wall. Also, amount of energy absorption increase for FRP is 60-70% and for shotcretes 70 to 90%. Therefore strengthening by single-faced shotcrete has a more feasible effect.