LEONE, MARIANOVELLA1; SCIOLTI, MARGHERITA STEFANIA2; FRANCESCO MICELLI3, AIELLO MARIA ANTONIETTA4

1) Assistant Professor, University of Salento, Department of Innovation Engineering, marianovella.leone@unisalento.it

2) Post-doc Researcher, University of Salento, Department of Innovation Engineering, margherita.sciolti@unisalento.it

3) Assistant Professor, University of Salento, Department of Innovation Engineering, francesco.micelli@unisalento

In the field of strengthening and/or upgrading of existing structures with non-metallic reinforcements, an extensive worldwide work has been expended into investigating the bond characteristics between Reinforced Concrete (RC) elements and composite materials. On the contrary little efforts were undertaken about masonry structures. The present paper reports part of a large research project, still in progress, devoted to the analysis of the bond performance between FRP sheets and different types of masonry, considering natural stone, brick, and the correspondent masonry element realized with hydraulic mortar joints. Six different types of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP), of which three with natural origin (basalt, flat and hemp), were also considered in order to evaluate their influence on bond performances. The global experimental results in terms of bond strength and kind of failure were analysed in order to evaluate the influence of the analysed parameter and the bond mechanism especially when FRP with natural fibres are used. In addition the effect of the presence of the mortar joints on the bond was analysed. Finally, the comparison in terms of strain along the bonded length has highlighted that the physical performance of the substrate could influence the stress transfer mechanism.

Keywords: Masonry, FRP, Bond, Stone, Brick