Compressive performance of adobe masonry strengthened with glass-fiber reinforced matrix composites

This paper studied compression properties on adobe masonry reinforced with fiber composites. Matrixes mainly included epoxy resin, earthen matrix consolidated by waterborne polyurethane and combination of the two. Uniaxial compression tests were carried out on twelve adobe masonry. Three of them were left unreinforced, while the other ones were reinforced with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP), Fiber Reinforced Earthen matrix (FREM) and Fiber Reinforced Polymer with Earthen matrix (FRP-EM) by double-side layout, which reproduced the reinforcement for existing earthen walls. The research investigated on compressive strength, failure mode, stress strain curve and ductility. The results showed that FRP achieved a high strength improvement (56.4%) while FREM had relative low increase in strength (20.6%) due to premature debonding failure. FRP-EM increased strength by 77.3%, close to the combination of FRP and FREM. Moreover, The local debonding of FRP-EM systems due to uneven deformation of the internal composition was different from almost overall debonding of FREM systems. FRP and FRP-EM prevented the formation and propagation of the cracks and FREM reduced the width of major cracks on substrates. In addition, based on the modified Kent and park model, a constitutive model on adobe masonry reinforced with fiber composites was proposed, providing a reliable theoretical reference for the study.