Strengthening of masonry walls with CFRP composite: experiments and numerical modeling

The paper presents the experimental and numerical study of brick masonry walls reinforced with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite subjected to a shear load. In this analysis the Concrete Damaged Plasticity (CDP) constitutive laws are utilzed to simulate the non-linearities in the behavior of brick and mortar. These models are used for the analysis of diagonal compression tests on masonry panels. The experimental results are used to validate the modelling approach presented here. The results showed that the application of the CFRP composite on unreinforced masonry (URM) has a great influence on strength, post-peak behavior, as well as changing failure modes and ductility. On the other hand, the adopted detailed micro-modelling approach (DMM) gives a good interface for predict the shear response on masonry walls.