Fiber Reinforced Composite Seismic Performance Of Reinforced Brick Masonry

Fiber Reinforced Plastic/Polymer (abbr.FRP) is a kind of high performance composite material. The strengthening structure with FRP sheets is bonding FRP sheets to the surface of structural elements with an epoxy matrix. Compared with other methods, FRP strengthening systems have the merits of high strength, high active, ease of application and good corrosion resistance and so on. However there are still many shortfalls about the strengthening masonry by FRP sheets. In order to make full use of this technique in the field of brick masonry structure, and put forward design guidelines for strengthening masonry structure with FRP sheets, the experimental and theoretical research was undertaken.At first, the developments of research and application on the strengthening masonry with FRP sheets were summarized in this paper. Then the experimental data was analyzed and an FEM simulation was implemented. Different types of FRP sheets and different strengthening styles are used to strengthen brick masonry in the test. And an increase of the in-plane shear capacity, the mode of failure, and the change of strain and displacement and so on were studied. According to the phenomena and data of the test, the types of FRP sheets, bonding styles, anchorage systems how to affect the effects of strengthening was explored from the aspects of increase of the horizontal shear capacity, displacement of wall, variation of hysteretic loops and skeleton curve, change of stiffness and ductility. The results of this test indicate that strengthening brick masonry with FRP sheets is an effective method. In the part of finite element analysis the methods of reinforcement in the test are simulated, and there is certain error between the results of simulation and that of test. Although there is calculating error, the results of finite element analysis can study stress nature of wall qualitatively. Four kinds of walls are simulated when the depth-width ratio is 1/2, 2/3, 5/6, 1.0, and the relationship between depth-width ratio of wall and effects of reinforcement was analyzed. The results of finite element analysis indicate that effects of reinforcement increase as the depth-width ratio increment from 0.5 to 1.0.At last, the formulas for ultimate horizontal shear strengthening capacity were provided. It applied to masonry strengthened by one, three, five pieces of FRP sheets. The results of calculating and that of test are anastomotic in a certain extent, and the formulas can be used in engineering.