Two-heads brick masonry walls strengthened by basalt and glass chopped fiber mortar: Effect of bed joints and coating reinforcements

It is urgent finding strengthening systems for masonry structures located in seismic areas. This paper studies the effect of chopped fibers embedded in a cementitious mortar to be used as a strengthening system for two-heads brick masonry panels subjected to diagonal compressive forces. The strengthening system provides the use of two types of chopped fibers dispersed in the mortar matrix, i.e. a glass fiber reinforced mortar (GFRM) and a basalt fiber reinforced mortar (BFRM). The retrofitting composite material is disposed in three different ways: (i) the reinforced mortar is placed within the mortar joints of masonry panel; (ii) the reinforced mortar is disposed on both external surfaces of the masonry panel, but the mortar joints are in plain mortar; (iii) the reinforced mortar is placed both within the mortar joints and as a double reinforcing system on the external surfaces of each masonry panel. Experimental results show that in all the three cases the use of fiber reinforced mortar enhances both the shear strength and the post-peak capacity of the two-heads brick masonry panel. The most suitable behavior is related to panels reinforced with mortar both within the joints and as external reinforcing system. From the comparison between GFRM and BFRM it is shown that the best performance is related to basalt fibers mortar, that is also the most sustainable one. Authors always recommend the use of dispersed fibers within the mortar matrix, as it stands as effective strengthening system for new and existing masonry structures, above all when they are located in areas characterized by seismic hazard.