Experimental investigation on the out-of-plane response of unreinforced brick walls retrofitted with FRP composites

摘要

This paper presents a preliminary experimental results of an ongoing investigation on the use of fiber reinforced polymeric (FRP) composites on structural upgrade of unreinforced red brick walls. In this study, both carbon/epoxy and E-glass/epoxy composite systems were evaluated. Four 105" × 105" × 3.7" (267 cm × 267 cm × 7.62 cm) brick walls were tested. The experimental program evolved an as-built wall, two retrofitted walls using carbon/epoxy laminates: one wall retrofitted by two layers of unidirectional laminates [0°]{sub}2 and the other was retrofitted by a cross-ply laminate [0°/90°]{sub}1. The fourth wall was retrofitted using three unidirectional layers of E-glass/epoxy composites [0°]{sub}3. In all tests, the composite laminates were applied only to one side (tension side) of the brick wall specimens. The experimental results indicated that a significant strength could be achieved by using few composite laminates. An analytical model was developed to predict the ultimate load of the tested specimens. The analytical modeling is bared on deformation compatibility and force equilibrium using simple section analysis procedure.