Flexural behavior of low strength masonry wallettes strengthened with welded wire mesh

Due to their low cost and ease of manufacture low strength hollow concrete blocks are extensively used in masonry constructions in rural and semi-urban areas. These unreinforced masonry (URM) walls are typically weak in flexural capacity when subjected to out-of-plane loading caused by heavy wind pressure or earthquakes. Strengthening these URM walls with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and textile reinforced matrix (TRM) has shown increased in flexural capacity and ductility though it is of high cost. Hence this study evaluates the feasibility of using cheap materials a welded wire mesh (WWM) as an alternative external strengthening material for improving the out-of-plane behavior of low strength hollow URM walls. A total of six wallettes were constructed using three different mortar mixes i.e strong mortar (1:3), moderately weak mortar (1:4.5) and weak mortar (1:6). Out of these six wallettes, three wallettes were reinforced with WWM and then finish plastered with 1:4 mortar mix. All wallettess were subjected to four point bending test. Results indicated that URM wallettes are not influenced by the mortar strength. Reinforced masonry wallettes however shown remarkable increased in flexural loads and corresponding energy dissipation and displacement ductility. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advanced Materials Behavior and Characterization.