Experimental results on the retrofitting of hollow brick masonry walls with reinforced high performance mortar coatings

The present work focuses on seismic strengthening of a masonry typology widely used for social housing. It is based on hollow masonry bricks with horizontal holes and poor cementitious mortar. Results of quasi-static cyclic tests carried out on full-scale unreinforced masonry walls with different geometries, representing either a shear wall or a pier-spandrel assembly, are presented. The specimens were repaired or strengthened with a thin layer of high-performance mortar reinforced with light steel-mesh. The test results show the effectiveness of the proposed technique since it provides a remarkable enhancement of both lateral strength and displacement capacity.