A Novel and Sustainable Application of Basalt Fibers for Strengthening Unreinforced Masonry Walls

摘要

This paper presents the first results of a study aimed at improving the seismic behavior of unreinforced masonry walls by a novel and sustainable application of basalt fibers. Five masonry panels were tested under out-of-plane actions, one of the common way of failure for masonry walls during an earthquake. Three of them were dry-strengthened by using two different techniques (a "lozenge" stitching and a "reticulum" one), while two unreinforced panels were used as reference. Besides, two other bigger masonry walls were dry-reinforced by "lozenge" stitching and vertical ropes and were tested by putting them horizontally and then loaded.