OUT-OF-PLANE BENDING STRENGTH OF LIGHTWEIGHT MASONRY WALLS STRENGTHENED BY COCONUT ROPE NETTING

This paper presents the effectiveness of employing of coconut rope netting reinforcement on lightweight brick masonry walls. The lightweight brick was developed with a mixed design of cement: sand: coconut fiber: water: foam of 1.0:0.985:1.5:0.55:0.007 by weight. The strengthened wall panels were prepared by applying coconut rope netting with various external reinforcing patterns to the walls. Four types of coconut rope netting were employed to examine the effects of reinforcement ratio. The performance of the walls reinforced with coconut fiber was assessed by conducting experimental tests. This was to measure the out-of-plane bending strength, the deformation capacity, and the features of the failure. The test result indicated that the primary cause of failure for coconut fiber reinforced masonry walls is the flexural instability, which leads to the formation of small-scale crack patterns in the walls. The highest improvement was achieved when the reinforcement ratio reached 5.5%. This resulted in a significant increase of 114.97% and 44% in the load-bearing capacity and the ductility index, respectively. The comparisons between the experimental and the analytical results for the out-of-plane bending resistant of the walls revealed that the suggested analytical model offers a reasonable estimation. Hence, the utilization of coconut rope netting demonstrates the satisfactory enhancement, and it contributes to the advancement of sustainable and cost-effective construction technique.