MICCOLI, LORENZO1; FONTANA, PATRICK2

1 PhD, BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Div. 7.1 – Building Materials, Berlin, Germany, lorenzo.miccoli@bam.de

2 PhD, BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Div. 7.1 – Building Materials, Berlin, Germany, patrick.fontana@bam.de

Connections improvement plays a key role in seismic upgrade of historical buildings. Their global response is related to the behaviour of the single structural elements as well as by their mutual connections. Up to now limited data is available on the performance of grouted anchor pins in earthen materials where the critical point is the bond between the grout and the earthen substrate.

In this paper results of the experimental testing performed on earth block masonry are presented. Pull-out tests were carried out to investigate the bond strength and failure modes of stainless steel as well as glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) rods with a lime based hydraulic grout and their compatibility with earth block masonry. GFRP rods were investigated as an alternative bonded-in anchorage material to the commonly used steel. In comparison with steel, they have a reduced weight and a reduced coefficient of thermal expansion. Their lower modulus of elasticity seems to be more compatible with the modulus of elasticity of earthen materials, although they exhibit a brittle fracture with lack of plastic phase.

Keywords: earth block masonry; pull-out tests; anchor pins; lime based hydraulic grout;