Seismic Retrofitting of Masonry with Fabric Reinforced Mortar

Masonry walls are particularly vulnerable against out-of-plane seismic actions. Fabric Reinforced Mortars (FRM) composites, comprising high strength fabrics applied with inorganic matrices, may be used to prevent or delay the onset of collapse mechanisms, and integrated with traditional techniques in compliance with the preservation criteria required for applications to historic structures. This work describes a shake table test carried out on two full-scale wall specimens, one made of two leaves of rubble stones and one of regular tuff blocks. The walls were subjected to out-of-plane vertical bending under seismic base motion. Natural accelerograms were applied in both horizontal and vertical direction with increasing scale factor to collapse. The walls were tested unreinforced, then repaired and strengthened with FRMs, and tested again.