Experimental and applied element modeling of masonry walls retrofitted with near surface mounted (NSM) reinforcing steel bars

Abstract

In this paper, unreinforced masonry (URM) and retrofitted masonry walls are modeled experimentally and computationally. The walls were subjected to in-plane loading to assess on the effectiveness of a retrofit solution that makes use of near surface mounted (NSM) reinforcing steel bars. A laboratory testing campaign was performed that included pull-out tests, diagonal compression tests, and in-plane cyclic tests of URM and NSM retrofitted physical models. The experimental results indicate that the NSM reinforcing steel bars are effective in improving the deformation capacity of the URM walls. A computational modeling approach that makes use of the applied element method is proposed and the computational results are validated using the experimental tests presented. Results from computational models indicate that a good correlation with the test results is achieved in terms of load-displacement response as well as failure mechanisms observed.