Textile reinforced mortar system as a means for confinement of masonry structures

The present paper demonstrates the initial results of an ongoing experimental and analytical research programme on masonry structures confined with Textile Reinforced Mortars (TRMs). In the present experimental stage four series of uniaxial compression tests, were conducted on small scale masonry columns having as variables the number of TRMs layers, and the corner radiuses. The purpose of this experimental investigation was to examine the performance of confined masonry with the use of TRM jackets. All specimens had rectangular 240^∗240 mm² cross-sections with corner radiuses of 10 and 20 mm strengthened with one, two and three layers of Carbon fiber textile having, a weight of 220 g/m², a tensile strength of 8.40 MPa. The textiles were externally bonded to masonry using mortar-as a binder-that contained polymeric additives. A total of 12 specimens were divided into four groups comprising three specimens each. The main variables that were under investigation was the reinforcement ratio and the corner radius. From the experimental results, it is concluded that in general the behavior of the TRM-confined masonry was very much like FRP-confined masonry. Confinement using TRM jackets increases both the load-carrying capacity and the deformability of masonry. Further experimental and analytical investigations will be made in the future in order to examine the influence that parameters such as the aspect ratio and the overlap length of the TRM jacket, have on the behavior of TRM confined masonry subjected to axial loads.