Out-of-plane behavior of masonry walls strengthened by FRCM composites

An experimental campaign, devoted to the investigation of the out-of-plane behavior of masonry walls reinforced with FRCM composite materials, is here presented. A purposely designed experimental setup was used, able to separately and independently apply an axial force and out-of plane horizontal actions on masonry walls. The focus point of this experimental study is to analyze the effectiveness of the strengthening system, by discussing failure modes and capacity of reinforced masonry walls, in order to assess their behavior under horizontal actions, such as, for example, seismic actions. Results have been discussed in comparison with those coming from more conventional bond tests, in order to understand the possible different behavior. It should be noted that a proper evaluation of the flexural capacity of strengthened walls is a first step to provide useful data and suggestions that could be taken into account for future seismic vulnerability analysis and code prescriptions.