Strengthening of Arched Masonry Structures by Additional Reinforcement: Design Approaches and Comparison to Experiments

Strengthening of Arched Masonry Structures by Additional Reinforcement: Design Approaches and Comparison to Experiments

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The main aim of this article is to present design approaches for calculating the additional strengthening of masonry arches with the use of the strut-and-tie method and applicable standards and their comparison with the experiments that have demonstrated the functionality of the described method. Presented method is one of the methods of maintaining historical vaulted masonry structures is additional strengthening by non-prestressed reinforcement from the face of the vault, a method that is also used to improve the behaviour of new masonry structures. This method of strengthening has its advantages, especially in the minimization of alterations to the structure and its simplicity of application. In order to verify the behaviour of masonry arches strengthened by additional reinforcement, experiments have been performed in recent years on additionally strengthened vaults with metallic helical reinforcement and non-metallic composite glass reinforcement (GFRP). These experiments have demonstrated the significant influence of additional reinforcement on the carrying capacity of masonry vaults. The growth of bearing capacity was more than eight-fold. From a comparison of design approaches with experiments is evident that approaches to the design of additionally strengthened masonry based on valid standards are possible. The comparison of results moreover demonstrates the possibility of using approaches based on the strut-and-tie method.

The main aim of this article is to present design approaches for calculating the additional strengthening of masonry arches with the use of the strut-and-tie method and applicable standards and their comparison with the experiments that have demonstrated the functionality of the described method. Presented method is one of the methods of maintaining historical vaulted masonry structures is additional strengthening by non-prestressed reinforcement from the face of the vault, a method that is also used to improve the behaviour of new masonry structures. This method of strengthening has its advantages, especially in the minimization of alterations to the structure and its simplicity of application. In order to verify the behaviour of masonry arches strengthened by additional reinforcement, experiments have been performed in recent years on additionally strengthened vaults with metallic helical reinforcement and non-metallic composite glass reinforcement (GFRP). These experiments have demonstrated the significant influence of additional reinforcement on the carrying capacity of masonry vaults. The growth of bearing capacity was more than eight-fold. From a comparison of design approaches with experiments is evident that approaches to the design of additionally strengthened masonry based on valid standards are possible. The comparison of results moreover demonstrates the possibility of using approaches based on the strut-and-tie method.