Behavior of Brick

Masonry strengthened
with FRP Sheets/Strips
20L-2435 , 21L-7424
Course Code: CV-5045 | Submitted to: Dr. Javaid
12/21/21
 Behavior of Brick Masonry Strengthened with FRP Sheets/Strips
20L-2435 , 21L-7424

Contents
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

1.1. Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 2

1.2. Scope of Study.......................................................................................................................................... 2

1.3. Objectives ................................................................................................................................................. 2

1.4. Methodology............................................................................................................................................. 3

2. Main body........................................................................................................................................................ 3

2.1. Masonry Structures................................................................................................................................... 3

2.2. Modes of failure in brick masonry building ............................................................................................. 3

2.3. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP).............................................................................................................. 5

2.4. Application of FRP to strengthen masonry members ............................................................................... 5

2.4.1. Wall ................................................................................................................................................... 6

2.4.1.1 Strengthening using FRP Bars..................................................................................................... 6

2.4.1.2 Strengthening using FRP laminates ............................................................................................. 7

2.4.2. Column ............................................................................................................................................ 10

2.4.2.1. Circular column ........................................................................................................................ 10

2.4.2.2. Rectangular column .................................................................................................................. 11

3. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 12

4. Recommendations ......................................................................................................................................... 12

5. References ..................................................................................................................................................... 13

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1. Introduction
1.1. Overview
Existing buildings and structure have been designed according to older outdated codes and may need external
reinforcement in case of earthquake loads. They do not satisfy specific seismic detailing requirements and may
collapse. For several years, new rules have been introduced to avoid such deficiencies in new construction, but
some existing ones need to be retrofitted. In Pakistan, an increasing demand of strengthening/strengthening of
the existing undamaged and moderately damaged structures has been observed after the earthquake (7.6 on
Richter scale) of 8th October 2005.

Masonry structures often needs attention due to their material characteristics and exposure to moisture. These
structures are more prone to damages and material deterioration due to temperature changes and exposure to
moisture. Moreover, structures build before 1960s are experiencing more demands and needs to strengthen
externally to increase the capacity.

In the last few decades, Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) have found its applications in the field of retrofitting
and external strengthening of structures. Key advantages of using FRP material for strengthening is high
mechanical properties such as strength to weight ratio and stiffness to weight ratio and the lightness of material.
FRP was applied successfully to RCC structures at first which proved to be very effective and later it was
implemented on wooden and masonry structures (N. G. Shrive, 2006; Triantafillou, 1998). One of the first
attempt of the strengthening of masonry structure by FRP sheet was done about 35 years ago (Croci et al., 1987).
These materials are available in different types of fibers mainly, Carbon (CFRP), Aramid (AFRP) and Glass
(GFRP). FRP is usually wrapped around the member with epoxy resin in the form of strips. FRPs provide high
stiffness in the direction of fibers, are good corrosion resistant and very easy to handle.

1.2. Scope of Study

This study reviews the recent research related to strengthening of brick masonry by FRP composite material
and it is the outcome of in-depth literature review of peer reviewed international research papers. FRP is getting
common these days with great application in retrofitting already existing structures and being used as a material
in new construction. This study will prove to be a great asset for future research and a bibliography for
researchers.

1.3. Objectives
The main objective of this study to gather past key research related to FRP strengthening of masonry
construction. Further, main objectives of this study are given below.

 Discuss failure modes in unstrengthen and strengthened masonry walls and columns.
 Discuss flexural and shear strengthening phenomenon in masonry construction using FRP sheets.

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 Discuss Better orientation for effective FRP capacity usage for different conditions.
 Discuss bond strength and behavior of epoxy resin.
 The areas where further research is required.

1.4. Methodology
For this research, peer reviewed internationally published articles are considered from famous journals of
“Journal for Composite of Constructions” and Construction and Building Materials”. Relevant outcomes are
considered and compared to produce useful literature.

2. Main body
2.1. Masonry Structures
Masonry structures are brittle in nature. Characteristically they have low tensile and shear strength. Due to large
mass of structure, their heavy weight is more prone to seismic loads. The weakest link in brick masonry are the
connection points of wall and roof. Stress concentration occurs at corners of doors and windows.

2.2. Modes of failure in brick masonry building

The most common modes of failure in masonry building along with description and examples are shown in
Table 1.

Out of plane  Mostly due to earthquake

failure loads
 The wall tends to overturn or
bend
 Causes partial or full collapse
of wall
 Characterized by vertical
cracks at corner, lintel, roof
level and gable wall etc

In plane failure  Mostly due to loads parallel

to the plane
 The wall is shear off or bend
 X cracks occurs
 Characterized by vertical
cracks at wall intersection
and spalling of material

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Diaphragm  Lack of anchoring produce a

failure push of diaphragm against
the wall
 Causes damage at the corner
of the wall
 Separation of wall and
diaphragm cause collapse of
building

Connection  Caused due to overturning of

failure one wall against other due to
inappropriate joint.
 Masonry units should be tied
properly.

Failure due to  Large opening in shear wall

opening in wall reduces strength.
 Causes diagonal cracks near
the openings.

Pounding  Striking of adjacent roofs

with each other due to
difference in elevations
during earthquakes.
 It results in cracking of walls.

Nonstructural  Failing of plaster from

component masonry
failure  Cracking of parapet
 Cracking of glass
Table 1: Type of failures in brick masonry

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2.3. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP)

FRP is a composite material comprising of polymer matrix reinforced with fibers. Usually carbon (CFRP), glass
(GFRP), and aramid (AFRP) are used as fibers with epoxy, vinyl ester or polyester thermosetting plastic are
used as polymers. Application of FRP in strengthening already existing structures is increasing as traditional
ways impose following disadvantages.

 Labor intensive work

 Scaffoldings are required
 Ineffectiveness of steel and concrete joint with time due to rusting
 Increased weight and stiffness

FRP shows following advantages in case of masonry strengthening

 Increased stiffness at service loads

 Increased in plane shear strength
 Increased out of plane flexural strength
 Less weight to strength ratio
 Comparatively easy to apply
 Require less labor
 Corrosion resistant
 Increased ductility and strength

FRP are available in different material mainly glass, carbon, and aramid. Mechanical properties of these
materials are mentioned in Table 2..

Material Young’s Modulus (GPa) Tensile Strength (GPa) Density (kg/m3)

Carbon Fiber 125-400 4.127 1580
Aramid 70-112 2.757 1440
Glass 30-40 3.450 2660
Table 2. Mechanical properties of different FRP materials

2.4. Application of FRP to strengthen masonry members

Historical buildings are mostly designed as unreinforced masonry (URM) building. In last few decades, repeated
earthquakes have made these structures vulnerable (ElGawady et al., 2005). Thus, intensive study is required to
strengthen these existing structures. FRP has proved to be an affective solution to this problem apart from the
traditional method (e.g., steel jacketing, grout injection and shotcrete etc.). Recent study by Lang K, 2002 shows
that 60% of historic URM will face heavy damages with earthquake in coming year as they are under designed
to withstand lateral earthquake loads. FRP is used for retrofitting as FRP bars or FRP strip glued on the outer

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surface of the structure. Application of FRP for strengthening of walls and columns in masonry structures are
discussed below.

Figure 1. Different types of FRP bars (CNR-DT 200/2004)

2.4.1. Wall
2.4.1.1 Strengthening using FRP Bars
Walls are the most important component of the masonry structure. Design approach in case of wall basically
comprises of figuring out the weak link or the failure mode (typically in-plane failure, out of plane failure, and
connection between wall and floor) and provided necessary strengthening with FRP strips or by providing FRP
bars. FRP bars can be used to provide flexure strengthening of URM buildings. The main advantage of these
bars is that it does not require any surface preparation and it preserves the actual appearance of the structure
which is useful in case of historic buildings. Another advantage of using FRP bar strengthening is the anchoring
procedure which may be done with the adjacent member to provide more stability.

Procedure

FRP bar strengthening in URM walls are done by providing grooves on the surface. Groove of around 1.5 times
width of FRP bar are made on the surface of the wall. Epoxy resin is filled inside the groove and FRP bar is
pressed gently, encapsulating the FRP bar with resin. The surface is then smoothened after the epoxy hardened.

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a. Application of embedding paste b. encapsulation of FRP bar

Figure 2. Installation of FRP bars (Galati et al., 2006)

The increase in flexure strength of URM wall depends on number of bars used in the section of the building. It
is observed 24 inches and 12 inches bar displacement gives 4 to 14 times the original capacity (Galati et al.,
2006). Another research revealed 4 to 26 times increase in out of plane capacity of masonry wall using #3 GFRP
bars (Turco et al., 2006).

Similar technique is used to provide shear strengthening of USM buildings. In this case the diameter of FRP bar
is limited to the mortar joint size. Galati et al., 2006 studies showed 180% increase in the shear strength of the
wall with #3 GFRP bar embedded on each horizontal joints of the wall. Another study showed 150% increase
in shear strength with the use of FRP bars (Turco et al., 2006). One drawback that was noticed during this study
was the wall may be titled slightly to the strengthened side due to loading eccentricity which will cause the
cracks on un-strengthened side to increase rapidly.

Figure 3 Shear strengthening (Galati et al., 2006)

2.4.1.2 Strengthening using FRP laminates

FRP laminates are extensively used along with epoxy resin bonding agent to provide flexural, shear and
anchorage resistance to masonry members. FRP laminates are distinguish by their geometry. FRP is an
anisotropic material with strength depending on the concentration of fibers and direction of orientation of each
layer of fiber (Lamina). Out of plane loads in masonry causes wall damage due to weak anchorage or no
anchorage. Vast research has been conducted in recent years on the effectiveness of FRP laminate strengthening

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in masonry structures. Of, 1999 revealed in his study that debonding is the major failure mode in FRP laminate
strengthening. Velazquez-dimas et al., 2000 suggested to take the effective strain as 0.004 in case of wall
designed to resist out of plane loads. While ultimate tensile strain for GFRP, Grid GFRP and AFRP was
suggested as 0.03, 0.04 and 0.028 by Turco et al., 2006. Furthermore, Velazquez-dimas et al., 2000 revealed
that shear capacity of wall is considerably increased when treated with FRP laminate. FRP laminates provide
high wind resistance along with earth quake and blast loads resistance (Of, 1999). FRP laminate provided at the
tension side of the wall subjected to out of plane loading will give better flexural capacity and ductility.

CFRP fibers (CNR-DT 200/2004) CFRP fibers impregnated with epoxy resin
(CNR-DT 200/2004)

Glass fibers Aramid fiber

Figure 4. Different types of FRP laminates

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Figure 5. Example of Grid Pattern FRP Laminate (Sika, 2003)

FRP laminates are provided in unidirectional manner. However, cross ply laminate can be provided as well. The
ultimate load capacity of masonry wall laminated with two layers of unidirectional laminate can provide 12
times increase in capacity (Youssef et al., 2007). The ultimate failure mode in case of FRP laminate is governed
by compressive failure of masonry followed by debonding failure of FRP laminate as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6. Compressive failure of brick masonry followed by debonding of FRP laminate

In case of shear strengthening, it can be done on single side or on both sides of the wall. In case of single side
strengthening, bending is noticeable on unstrengthened side due to difference in stiffness and unsymmetrical
loading. 50% increase in shear strength was noticed by Marcari, 2007 with double sided strengthened wall.

Modes of failure in strengthened walls

Failure in strengthened wall can be categorized as following types.(Galati et al., 2006)
 Debonding Failure
 Flexural Failure
 Shear Failure
For masonry composite material, bond strength plays an important role in effectively transferring loads from
FRP to the member. In most cases, it is noticed that failure occur before the member reaches its capacity due to
debonding of the substrate member. Bellini & Mazzotti, 2017 investigated the bond behavior of FRP composite
applied on masonry structure. He studied the failure mechanism in case of improper bonding of FRP and
masonry structure and presented the overview of different model available to predict the maximum capacity of

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strengthened structure. Flexure cracks appears at the tension face of the wall followed by the progressive
cracking of epoxy. Since most of the tensile stresses are being taken up by the FRP specimen, redistribution of
stresses occurs and as a result diagonal cracks appear on the masonry structure.

Figure 7. Debonding failure in masonry structure

After development of flexure cracks at mortar joints of a strengthened masonry wall, complete failure of
structure happens with rupture of FRP sheets and crushing of masonry. FRP rupture is localized to mid span. In
case of shear cracks, after appearance of fine flexure cracks on bending region, flexure shear cracks are observed
at 45 degrees. FRP debonding is caused because of shear displacement due to shear loads transmitted over the
cracks.
2.4.2. Column
Masonry columns are prone to brittle failure under seismic forces or static overload. External confinements are
required to strengthen the members. Traditional methods used for external confinements are usually reinforced
concrete and steel jacketing which may diminish the seismic load performance of the structure by increasing
the mass and it cannot be used to preserve the historic buildings. FRP provide an effective solution to this
problem. FRP wrapping does not alter the external dimensions of the columns, with less effect to seismic
performance of the building, it is being used widely these days. Further, review of FRP strengthening of circular
and rectangular columns are discussed below.
2.4.2.1. Circular column
FRP strengthening of circular columns are done with FRP wrapping. Fibers orientation is kept perpendicular to
the columns to provide resistance to buckling. Various techniques are used for FRP strengthening of columns
including wrapping of continuous or discontinuous CFRP sheets and GFRP reinforcement bars. Transverse
overlapping of 100mm is recommended by Aiello et al., 2007.
(Aiello et al., 2007) performed series of experiments on confined columns to determine the effectiveness of FRP
sheets with different characteristics. It was observed that columns with three strips showed better results as
compared to the column with two strips. Moreover, valuable increase in strength capacity and strain was
observed from control sample.

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Table 3. Column retrofitting and results (Aiello et al., 2007)

Mode of failure in each case was also observed and showed in table 3. It can be seen in table 3 that using more
strips of less width produces much better results than that to wider strips. Sika Corporation 2003 recommends
discontinuous CFRP wrapping with spacing of 300mm.

Table 4. Failure mode of different wrapping patterns

2.4.2.2. Rectangular column
Similar improvement in strength was noticed in case of rectangular columns. Increase in strength as well as
strain was noticeable. 34% increase in axial load capacity was noticed in continuous wrapping of square section
column with CFRP sheets. In common practice, circular concrete jacket is introduced on square column which
provides load capacity improvement of more than 2 times due to effective consumption of whole parameter of
surface (N. Shrive et al., 2001).
Number of layers plays an important role in strengthening. It was found to have direct influence on load capacity
of the structure. Table shows the result of series of experiments performed to study the effects of number of
layers of CFRP confinement on columns.

Table 5. Impact of number of layers on strength and strain (Carrara et al., 2013)

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Corner radius is case of rectangular columns is very vital. It was found that with increase in corner radius from
10 to 20mm, strength capacity increased by 40% hence increased corner radius is beneficial. (Carrara et al.,
2013)

Figure 8. Failure in column confinement (a) Vertical cracking in square column (b) Vertical cracking in rectangular
column (c) Fracture of CFRP at corner (d) Fracture of GFRP at corner (Carrara et al., 2013)
3. Conclusion
Modern problems require modern solution. FRP composite is an effective solution to not only the structural
strengthening of existing structure but new structures as well. FRP can be used to improve structure strength,
ductility of masonry, increased integrity, and ability to resist propagation of cracks. It is claimed that flexure
strength can be improved by 26 times and 12 times by FRP bars and laminates respectively. Further, 4 times
shear strength improvement was noticed with FRP laminate, and 1.5 times improvement was noticed with FRP
bars. Drastic improvement in ductility was also noticed for wall and columns. With increase in demand these
days, production cost of FRP in reducing and the material is getting common in market, which has promoted
this technology.

4. Recommendations
Scientific knowledge about the use of FRP for strengthening of masonry structure is limited and there is a need
to study more about this phenomenon to understand the effectiveness of this material for retrofitting. Following
are some of recommendations for future studies.
 Composition of the bond resin used in fitting of FRP bars.
 Effects of environmental factors on the effectiveness of FRP such as temperature, UV light, alkalinity,
and other chemical exposures.
 Optimum numbers of FRP sheets required to achieve maximum strength in columns.
 Effects of ductility on modes of failure
 Anchorage system in case of wall
 Fire resistance
 Cost and performance analysis of discontinuous column confinement

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5. References
Aiello, M. A., Micelli, F., & Valente, L. (2007). Structural Upgrading of Masonry Columns by Using Composite
Reinforcements. Journal of Composites for Construction, 11(6), 650–658.
https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)1090-0268(2007)11:6(650)

Bellini, A., & Mazzotti, C. (2017). A review on the bond behavior of FRP composites applied on masonry
substrates. RILEM Technical Letters, 2, 74–82. https://doi.org/10.21809/rilemtechlett.2017.40

Carrara, P., Ferretti, D., & Freddi, F. (2013). Debonding behavior of ancient masonry elements strengthened
with CFRP sheets. Composites Part B: Engineering, 45(1), 800–810.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2012.04.029

Croci, G., D’Ayala, D., D’Asdia, P., & Palombini, F. (1987). Analysis on shear walls reinforced with fibres.
IABSE Symp. on Safety and Quality Assurance of Civil Engineering Structures.

ElGawady, M. A., Lestuzzi, P., & Badoux, M. (2005). Aseismic retrofitting of unreinforced masonry walls
using FRP. Composites Part B: Engineering, 37(2–3), 148–162.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2005.06.003

Galati, N., Tumialan, G., & Nanni, A. (2006). Strengthening with FRP bars of URM walls subject to out-of-
plane loads. Construction and Building Materials, 20(1–2), 101–110.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.06.047

Of, T. (1999). Trengthening of. 1–13.

Shrive, N. G. (2006). The use of fibre reinforced polymers to improve seismic resistance of masonry.
Construction and Building Materials, 20(4), 269–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.08.030

Shrive, N., Masia, M., & Lissel, S. (2001). Strengthening and rehabilitation of masonry using fibre reinforced
polymers. Proceedings of Historical …, 1970, 1047–1056.
http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ncr/historical_constructions/page 1047-1056 _152_.pdf

Triantafillou, T. C. (1998). Composites: a new possibility for the shear strengthening of concrete, masonry and
wood. Composites Science and Technology, 58(8), 1285–1295. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-
3538(98)00017-7

Turco, V., Secondin, S., Morbin, A., Valluzzi, M. R., & Modena, C. (2006). Flexural and shear strengthening
of un-reinforced masonry with FRP bars. Composites Science and Technology, 66(2), 289–296.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2005.04.042

Velazquez-dimas, J. I., Ehsani, M. R., & Saadatmanesh, H. (2000). Juan I. Velazquez-Dimas, Mohammad R.
Ehsani, and Hamid Saadatmanesh. 97, 377–387.

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Youssef, M. N., Feng, M. Q., & Mosallam, A. S. (2007). Stress-strain model for concrete confined by FRP
composites. Composites Part B: Engineering, 38(5–6), 614–628.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2006.07.020

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