ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on the characterization of flexural behavior of masonry beams strengthened with Near Surface Mounted (NSM) Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars. Masonry beams were casted using cement mortar and Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) as bed joint. The beams of 150 × 230 mm cross-section and 1300 mm length were casted using locally available clay burnt bricks. In each beam, two layers of clay-burnt bricks were inserted having five brick units in each layer with four mortar joints. The masonry beams strengthened using NSM technique with FRP bars. Four-point bending test was performed to determine the flexural response of masonry beams. The parameter examined under this study are types of bed joint (i.e., cement mortar and ECC), and type of FRP bars. Flexural performance of the tested unstrengthened/control masonry beams and NSM FRP strengthened masonry beams in terms of modes of failure, load-deflection, and load-strain responses are presented and discussed in this paper. The experimental results show that the NSM FRP rebars increase the load carrying capacity and ductility of masonry beams. Moreover, masonry beams with ECC as bed joints exhibit ductile performance, signifying that masonry beams covered with ECC as bed joints could be used as structural beams.
