Retrofitting of Unreinforced Masonry walls Using Basalt Textile Reinforced Mortar

Abstract

Masonry is used as a construction material all over the world. Although there is a great development in the major of the construction material, masonry still keep its popularity. URM structures is considered one of the oldest techniques that was used in ancient countries such as: Egypt, Italy and China. Most of URM buildings that exist nowadays have historical significance. They were built before the establishment of modern building codes. URM structures were constructed to bear only gravity loads and lateral loads are not considered in design. Most of these structures are still in service and their damage or collapse represents serious problem. The need to retrofit URM buildings has become one of the most priorities. Many techniques have been used to retrofit these building but apparently, they have some drawbacks. The researchers need to find a new technique that is effective, affordable, easy to apply and overcome the drawbacks of traditional techniques. Textile reinforced mortar (TRM) is one of the recently used techniques in retrofitting URM structures. In this technique mortar used to replace the polymers that was used before with fibers. A layer of mortar is applied then the textiles are applied and then covered with another layer of mortar. Different