Behavior and Design of Masonry Strengthened with Steel-Wire-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix under Flexure

Overlays consisting of welded steel-wire mesh embedded in an inorganic matrix have shown promising results in improving the flexural behavior of masonry in terms of strength, ductility, and energy dissipation. The flexural capacity of masonry strengthened with steel-wire-reinforced cementitious matrix (SWRCM) can be influenced by various factors, such as the percentage of reinforcement, strength of cementitious matrix, and masonry compressive strength. To understand the influence of these parameters, the results of past experimental studies were carefully examined, and parametric finite-element analyses were performed. The analytical equations available in the literature were used for the flexural capacity estimation of masonry reinforced with SWRCM; however, the majority of them could not provide accurate and reliable predictions. This may be due to neglecting the contribution of the cementitious matrix and debonding at the interface of the masonry substrate and composite overlay. Thus, a new equation has been proposed in this study for estimating the flexural capacity of masonry strengthened with SWRCM, which can consider the contribution of the inorganic matrix and the debonding at various interfaces through an effective tensile strain parameter. In addition, a stepwise procedure has been provided to estimate the effective tensile strain of SWRCM composite. Results of the analytical investigation showed that the proposed method can effectively provide a reliable and consistent prediction of the flexural capacity of masonry strengthened with SWRCM composites.