ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a strengthening technique that uses a Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRP) mesh embedded in a mortar coating on both wall sides. The strengthening technique consists in the application of a thin mortar coating reinforced with a GFRP mesh, onboth faces of the masonry. The connection of the reinforcement to the masonry is ensured by the insertion of L-shaped GFRP connectors, injected with thixotropic epoxy resin. The GFRP mesh is formed by alkali resistant glass fibers impregnated with a thermo-setting epoxy vinyl ester resin. The behavior of the GFRP mesh is considered linear elastic up to failure. The GFRP mesh has negligible effect on the specimen response up to first cracking, due to the low geometrical percentage and the low ratio between the mesh elastic modulus and the mortar coating one. Increasing the GFRP mesh tensile strength increases the mechanism strength, up to a value governed mainly by the mortar resistance.
