The structural response of masonry walls strengthened using prestressed near surface mounted GFRP bars under cyclic loading

The preliminary findings of cyclic tests conducted on a series of half-scale unstrengthened and strengthened masonry walls are presented. Reinforced walls were strengthened by (i) non-prestressed near surface mounted (NSM) glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars and (ii) prestressed NSM GFRP. Walls were strengthened symmetrically by vertical bars passing through both mortar and bricks. The structure was subjected to concurrent sustained uniformly distributed vertical loads and static cyclic horizontal loads. Each reinforcement method was evaluated for its loading capability and ductility efficiency. The experimental results showed a considerably higher ultimate load-carrying capability and ductility of strengthened walls compared to the unstrengthened wall. This was more pronounced for walls reinforced with prestressed GFRP bars. The ultimate strength of the strengthened walls compared to the un-reinforced masonry (USM) wall was 38% for the wall strengthened with the non-prestressed NSM technique and 58% for the wall strengthened with the prestressed NSM technique. The horizontal failure displacement was improved by about 64% in the non-prestressed NSM technique and 127% in the prestressed NSM technique compared to the USM wall.Please confirm if the author names are presented accurately and in the correct sequence (given name, middle name/initial, family name). Author 1 Given name: [Hossein Kanani] Last name [kashani]. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct. Author 4 Given name: [Seyed Mohammad] Last name [Hosseini]. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct. Author 5 Given name: [Seyed Mohammad Reza] Last name [Mortazavi]. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct.All confirmed!Please check and confirm the corresponding affiliation is correctly identified.Confirmed!