Assessment of curved FRP-reinforced masonry prisms: experiments and modeling

Abstract

During the past decade, several approaches have been proposed to investigate the response of masonry structures strengthened by externally bonded Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) reinforcements. Nowadays, regardless of the great efforts made, scarce information are available on the delamination behavior of reinforced curved substrates. An experimental and numerical study is presented herein, focusing on curved masonry prisms with a glass FRP strip. Both convex and concave configurations with a diverse curvature are considered for the specimens, constituted by four Portuguese bricks bonded by three joints of conventional mortar. The experimental data are interpreted in the light of fully threedimensional finite element simulations. Under the simplifying assumption of perfect adhesion, such advanced model allows to reconstruct local processes inside the masonry prisms, such as the damage distribution and the interface tractions, correlating them to the macroscopic response in terms of reaction force versus tangential slip. The effect of the geometrical curvature on the delamination response of the masonry prisms is critically and comparatively assessed by means of “step-by-step” numerical predictions together with a “direct” lower bound limit analysis approach. This topic is of paramount importance for structural engineering when dealing with masonry arches and double curvature structural elements.