Experimental study on seismic performance of fire-exposed perforated brick masonry wall

The seismic performance of perforated brick masonry wall was investigated by subjecting six fire-exposed pieces and one unexposed piece to low reversed cyclic loading. Two of the exposed pieces were reinforced with carbon fiber cloth and steel mesh cement mortar. The effect of the fire duration, fire boundary, cooling regime, and reinforcement method on the failure characteristics of the specimens was investigated. The experimental results revealed that (i) for the same position, the temperature of the mortar was higher than that of the brick and (ii) the cracking load and ultimate load of the walls decreased progressively with increasing fire duration. Moreover, the ultimate bearing capacity of the wall reinforced by carbon fiber cloth and steel mesh cement mortar was higher than that of the wall subjected to the same fire duration. This capacity was also higher than that of the unexposed wall.