Experimental study on the seismic performance of clay brick masonry wall strengthened with stainless steel strips

Strengthening the existing masonry structures with stainless steel strips is a new strengthening approach, which combines the advantages of compatible-to-masonry, chemically stable, durable, effective retrofitting, and low impact on the existing masonry structure. The horizontal and vertical stainless strips was anchored into the masonry wall with the angle steel and steel pipe to improve its in-plane tensile strength and ductility. To study the seismic performance of brick masonry walls strengthened with stainless steel strips, one masonry wall and five stainless steel strip strengthened masonry wall specimens with different packing modes and grid spacings were tested under low frequency cyclic loading. The experimental results show that the proposed strengthening approach can efficiently improve the seismic performance of the existing masonry structures, such as the load bearing capacity, ductility, stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity. The failure modes and damage evolution law of all the specimens were compared and analyzed. The load bearing capacity and hysteretic curves of the specimen were calculated using the proposed calculation formula and restoring force model, respectively. The calculated results are consistent with the test results, which provides an appropriate theoretical support and design basis for the masonry reinforcement design with stainless steel strips.