Experimental and analytical study to evaluate the effectiveness of an in-plane reinforcement for masonry walls using GFRP meshes

• Diagonal compression test on masonry strengthened with GFRP reinforced mortar coating.
• Influence of type of masonry and of the mortar for the coating investigated.
• Great improvements in resistance and dissipative capacity of reinforced walls.
• Analytical formulation for the evaluation of the tensile strength of reinforced walls.

The paper collects the results of diagonal compression tests to compare the in-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry (URM) and of masonry strengthen with a GFRP reinforced mortar coating. Experimental tests concern square wallettes of different masonry types and thickness; different mortars are considered for the coating. Significant increasing both in resistance and ductility emerges in reinforced masonry (RM). The principal tensile strengths are derived from experimental results and an analytical formulation is proposed for the RM resistance prediction. The formulation evidences that the contribution of the reinforced mortar coating is influenced by the characteristics of both the masonry and the reinforcement.