Analysis of Unreinforced Masonry Concrete Walls Strengthened with Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bars

In this investigation, an analytical model is developed for predicting the effectiveness of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials in retrofitting unreinforced masonry (URM) walls to reduce seismic damage. The reinforcement considered is nearsurface- mounted (NSM) FRP bars. The model is calibrated on 12 concrete URM walls tested under diagonal compression. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of FRP strengthening in improving the structural performance of the walls. The analytical model, which estimates the shear capacity of the walls strengthened with different retrofitting schemes, shows a reasonable agreement with the experimental results.