INVESTIGATION OF STRENGTHENED MASONRY WALLS MADE OF EARTH BLOCK STRENGTHENED EXTERNALLY WITH GLASS AND STEEL FIBER MESHES UNDER CYCLIC LOADING

Abstract eng:
Structures constructed with materials from earth have attracted the interest of modern building designers because of many advantages that this old methodology is offering. The healthy internal climate and the low environmental footprint are the most significant advantages. In addition, there is an important asset of traditional earth block buildings in rural towns that need retrofitting to continue serving as houses. To this direction, externally bonded fiber meshes by using soil-based renderings, could provide a compatible and reversible method of strengthening. The experimental investigation of this study is focusing on constructing masonry wallet specimens with stabilized and compressed earth blocks and testing them under combined constant vertical with cycling horizontal loading, strengthened with and without externally bonded fiber meshes. Physio-mechanical characteristics of earth blocks have been determined. Two types of fiber meshes were used: glass fibers and stainless steel fibers. The bond between wall and fibers was achieved with soil-based renderings and a limited number of dowels (18) symmetrically embedded to the masonry with soil-based grout. Finally, three model walls were constructed and tested under horizontal cyclic loading sequence together with vertical normal stress of 1,1Mpa. The results showed that the strengthening methodology that was utilized was efficient and almost doubled the bearing capacity of the wall. Summarizing, it could be said that the use of earth blocks for construction purposes is a promising alternative methodology. The utilized strengthening technique proved to be efficient.

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