Cyclic behavior of C-shaped masonry wall retrofitted with twisted bars or bonded rebars

The lack of effective connection between masonry walls is one of the most common reasons leading to the activation of out-of-plane failure mechanisms in masonry buildings during earthquakes. Thus, retrofitting interventions aimed at improving the box-like behavior of masonry structures are of primary importance. The paper presents the results of an experimental program aimed at investigating the effectiveness of two different fastening solutions to improve the joint connection of masonry walls in existing unreinforced masonry buildings. A full scale C-shaped clay brick masonry specimen was built featuring purposely weakened wall intersections. Vertical prestress was applied on top of the specimen to represent the weights of upper floors. The specimen was first tested in the unreinforced configuration under monotonic out-of-plane displacement, until a main crack was detected. Then, its corner connections were repaired using twisted bars, and tested under cyclic out-of-plane displacement. Lastly, the twisted bars were removed and replaced with bonded bars, and the specimen was tested again under cyclic out-of-plane displacement. The test results showed that both retrofitting solutions were able to recover the full capacity of the unreinforced wall, with higher displacement and dissipation capacity for the twisted bars solution, and higher resistance for bonded bars. The latter seems to be the most effective solution, especially in terms of monolithic behavior achieved; however, the large displacements associated to twisted bars could be a great advantage in case of earthquake actions.