The paper summarizes some recent developments achieved by authors on the strengthening of masonry structures. In particular, the behavior of masonry elements confined with steel tied plates and subjected to axial compression is described herein. Relevant collapse mechanisms and application options are also shown and discussed. A purposely developed theoretical procedure, calibrated against the results of a non-linear F.E.M. numerical analysis, is proposed for the evaluation of the effect of confinement in horizontal directions, accounting for the inelastic behavior of both masonry and steel. Because of the reduced number of factors involved, the proposed model can be considered as an useful tool for practical calculations.
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