Textile reinforced mortar (TRM) versus FRP as strengthening material of URM walls: out-of-plane cyclic loading

The application of a new structural material, namely textile reinforced mortar (TRM), as a means of increasing the load carrying capacity and deformability of unreinforced masonry walls subjected to cyclic out-of-plane loading is experimentally investigated in this study. The effectiveness of TRM overlays is evaluated in comparison to the one provided by fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) in the form of overlays or near-surface mounted (NSM) reinforcement. TRM systems may be considered as alternative to FRPs, tangling with some of the drawbacks associated with the application of the latter without compromising performance. Medium-scale tests were carried out on 12 masonry walls subjected to out-of-plane bending. The parameters under investigation comprised mortar-based versus resin-based matrix materials, the number of layers, the orientation of the moment vector with respect to the bed joints and the performance of TRM or FRP jackets in comparison to NSM strips. It is concluded that TRM jacketing provides substantial increase in strength and deformability. Compared with their epoxy-resin counterparts (FRP), TRM may result in generally higher effectiveness in terms of strength and deformability. NSM strips offer lower strength but higher deformability, due to controlled debonding. From the results obtained in this study it is believed that TRMs comprise an extremely promising solution for the structural upgrading of masonry structures under out-of-plane loading.