Stability Assessment of Masonry Arches Reinforced with Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials Under Large Deformation

Preservation and retrofitting of masonry arches and vaults belonging to the architectural heritage is a difficult task. Currently, the most widespread technique consists of applying fiber-reinforced composite materials to the intrados of these structures. The result is an increase in load-bearing capacity and a reduction in the width of cracks in the joints between blocks, although large deformations are experienced. The effectiveness of this technique relies on the bond between the reinforcement and the masonry substrate. To account for it, in this paper a delamination model is proposed. The arch is modelled by rigid blocks assembled with elastic-cracking interfaces and the reinforcement by means of deformable links connecting, in series, the intrados’ midpoints of adjacent blocks. A nonlinear numerical procedure to investigate the bond behavior is proposed. The delamination process is checked, step by step, searching for both the tensile forces in the mortar joints that cause the occurrence of cracks and the shearing and peeling forces at the intrados’ midpoint of each block that cause delamination. The deformed and cracked shape of the arch with the delaminated reinforcement is provided.