A review of retrofitting of unreinforced masonry walls using composites

摘要: Existing unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have been designed with little or no considerations for the effects of earthquake loadings. Recent earthquakes have demonstrated that these older masonry structures are extremely vulnerable to the force imposed during such an event. Numerous techniques are available to increase the strength and/or ductility of URM walls. One promising technique consists of using composites as externally bonded plates to enhance the lateral capacity and/or ductility of URM. While extensive research was conducted and reported for retrofitting of rc elements using composites, much less has been reported for URM elements. This paper reviews and discuses the stateof-the-art on seismic retrofitting of URM walls using composites. The objective is to provide an overview of the research carried out on URM walls retrofitted using composites with the ultimate goal is to provide a practical guidance for future research in this area. The literature shows that the future is promising in this area; however, extensive efforts are required to develop design guidelines. Up-to-date in-plane shear design is based on empirical equations or empirical strain values for the composite material.