Experimental investigation of seismic strengthening technique for confined masonry buildings

• Published in: Journal of Building Engineering 2019-09, Vol.25, p.100834, Article 100834
• Main Authors: Chourasia, Ajay, Singhal, Shubham, Parashar, Jalaj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Confined masonry; Masonry; Reversed cyclic lateral loading; Seismic behaviour; Seismic parameters; Strengthening
• ISSN: 2352-7102; 2352-7102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2019.100834

The aim of seismic strengthening for masonry buildings is to upgrade structural strength and improve inelastic deformation capacity. Most of the strengthening techniques in practice are rarely validated by experimental procedures. In the present research, various alternate options including Plastic Cement Bag Mesh (PCBM), Nylon Mesh (NM), Polypropylene Band Mesh (PBM), Industrial Geogrid Mesh (IGM), Welded Wire Mesh (WWM) and Chicken Mesh (CHM) were evaluated in the form of masonry prisms and wallets to explore a suitable and effective strengthening technique. The most suitable strengthening technique was then implemented on a damaged full-scale confined masonry building. The strengthened building was subjected to quasi-static lateral loading at the roof level. The effectiveness of strengthening was assessed by comparing failure patterns and seismic performance of the Strengthened Confined Masonry building (CM_ST) with its original counterpart (CM) and other previously tested masonry building systems such as Unreinforced Masonry (URM), Unreinforced Repaired Masonry (URM_REP), Reinforced Masonry (RM), and Reinforced Strengthened Masonry (RM_ST). The CM_ST building performed very well, with an increase in lateral strength, displacement capacity, stiffness, ductility, drift and energy dissipation capacity, along with minimum structural damage, among all the tested masonry buildings. •Confined masonry building strengthened with the mesh of Plastic Cement Bag.•Cost-effective strengthening, with good bonding, flexibility, non-corrodible, reuse of waste material, low thickness.•Strengthened confined masonry building exhibited superior performance in terms of seismic characteristics.•Proposed technique can be adopted for seismic strengthening of low-to-medium rise masonry buildings.•Deformation characteristics obtained forms the basis for design of masonry buildings.