Shaking table test of fibre reinforced masonry walls under out-of-plane loading

• The out-of-plane dynamic behaviour of FRP-reinforced and unreinforced masonry walls is presented.
• Displacement capacity, base shear, fundamental frequency and energy absorption are compared.
• The crack pattern and micro damage of specimens are discussed.
• GFRP strips improved wall performance significantly.

The present paper describes an experimental procedure to study the effect of retrofitting technique using fibre reinforced composites on the out-of-plane seismic performance of masonry walls. For this purpose, three “I” shaped half scale bearing masonry walls were tested under scaled versions of Bam, Kobe and Northridge earthquake horizontal components using one degree shaking table equipment. Each specimen is loaded axially by a concrete beam to simulate the effect of scaling; also two transverse walls are used to prevent overturning of the main wall against out-of-plane loads. The subject of this study is mainly about dynamic response of FRP strengthened masonry walls in terms of fundamental frequency, displacement capacity, shear strength, crack patterns and energy absorption. Experimental results revealed that FRP reinforcement can significantly improve masonry walls performance.