Author

VENKATESH, S. V.
Faculty of Civil Engineering Bangalore, Peoples Education Society Institute of Technology
Abstract

Brick is perhaps the oldest man made material used in building construction. The strength of brick masonry depends on the compressive strength of the bricks and mortar used. Brick masonry is primarily used as a load bearing walls to carry vertical loads. Rehabilitation of old and damaged brick masonry is a subject of widespread ongoing research. One of the methods of improving or increasing the strength of these masonry walls is by encasing with Ferrocement. In the present work an attempt has been made to determine the increase in the load carrying capacity of cracked brick masonry walls by encasing with Ferrocement. In this investigation brick masonry walls, with different shapes, bonds and methods of fixing mesh for Ferrocement were tested. Observations were made on crack pattern, crack width, first crack load and ultimate load. The results obtained show substantial increase in load at first crack and ultimate load after encasement.
Key words
Rehabilitation, Strength, Brick masonry, Encase, Ferrocement