In Situ and Laboratory Testing of Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Mortars for Cortical Restoration of Viaduct Piers

The use of fibre-reinforced mortars (FRM) has been developing for the strengthening of masonry panelsas an alternative to traditional reinforced plaster; despite this, analytical formulations to quantify the effect of such systems have not yet been released. This work evaluates the effectiveness of an FRM system composed of polyvinyl alcohol fibres in shear strengthening of masonry panels. An experimental campaign was carried out to characterize the mechanical properties of the materials and the adhesion between the coating and different masonry supports. Based on experimental results, a finiteelement model was developed to investigate the effectiveness of the strengthening system. The results show that the application of fibre-reinforced mortar leads to a significant in-plane shear strength increase and a comparison with current code provisions for traditional reinforced plaster was carried out. A new analytical formulation was developed to quantify the shear strength of reinforced panels.