Author
CAPOZUCCA, R.
Faculty of Engineering, DACS, Università Politecnica delle Marche

Abstract
The heritage of historic masonry buildings is one of civil engineering’s cultural duties. Small, historical towns in many European countries represent real sustainable urban development. Unfortunately, historic masonry walls have demonstrated high vulnerability and low shear capacity when exposed to seismic actions. Weakness of masonry has been recorded particularly for historic buildings with multiple-leaf masonry walls. It is common knowledge that the strength of multiple-leaf masonry walls is due to the combined structural response of two external leaves linked together by steel ties or bricks. This paper addresses the theme of the strengthening of historic masonry multiple-leaf walls damaged by shear and then strengthened using composite materials. The shear behaviour of historic multiple-leaf masonry walls was investigated conducting experimental shear tests on masonry models subjected to combined compression and shear. Wall models were built in laboratory with the same materials as those used in historical Italian buildings in scale 1:3 with double T-shape section. Four specimens were tested experimentally and, following damage by cracking, they were reinforced using composite materials: glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRP) and steel reinforced grout (SRG). The comparison of the experimental results recorded is discussed herein together with the availability of different composite materials for strengthening masonry walls.

Key words
historic multiple leaf masonry, damage, strengthening, GFRP, SRG