Cyclic shear-compression tests on CRM reinforced brick masonry walls

In recent years, Composite Reinforced Mortar (CRM) systems were applied as externally bonded reinforcement of existing masonry walls. In the research field, experimental tests have been carried out using diagonal-compression configurations, showing improvements in ultimate load and deformations capacities of panels. The experimental test of reference to define the lateral response of masonry walls is the shear-compression test: few studies were carried out using this setup, therefore limited analysis is still available about the efficiency of the reinforcement in terms of displacement capacity, stiffness, and hysteretic behavior. In this work, an experimental campaign was carried out to evaluate the CRM effect on the seismic response of brick masonry walls. First, mechanical characterization of reinforcement components was carried out, through tensile tests on bare yarns, clamping grid tests on reinforced mortar coupons, and single-lap shear bond tests. Subsequently, quasi-static cyclic shear-compression tests on three walls with dimensions of 1000x250x1225 mm were carried out. Amongst tested walls, one was maintained unreinforced, one was reinforced by the application of a CRM system on two sides, and the last was reinforced by the application of CRM on one side only. The paper presents the main results of the experimental campaign, showing the effectiveness of CRM for the in-plane shear behavior of brick masonry walls.