Diagonal shear behaviour of unreinforced masonry wallettes strengthened using twisted steel bars

The in-plane shear behaviour of URM wallettes strengthened using near surface mounted high strength twisted stainless steel reinforcement (TSNSM) was investigated and in particular, the effectiveness of the reinforcing schemes to restrain the diagonal cracking failure mode was studied. A total of 17 URM wallettes, each being 1.2 m × 1.2 m in size, were structurally tested in induced diagonal compression. Of these, 3 wallettes were tested as-built and 14 wallettes were tested after being strengthened using different patterns of TSNSM bars. Several parameters pertaining to the in-plane shear behaviour of strengthened URM walls were investigated, including failure modes, shear strength, maximum drift, pseudo-ductility, and shear modulus. It was inferred from the results that as-built tested wallettes exhibited sudden post-peak strength degradation and failed along a stepped diagonal joint crack, whilst strengthened wallettes failed along distributed diagonal cracks in a more ductile fashion and exhibited a shear strength increment ranging from 114% to 189%.