EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF FERROCEMENT AS A SEISMIC RETROFIT MATERIAL FOR MASONRY WALLS.

The existence in earthquake prone regions of many older masonry buildings, built before any provision for earthquake loading was required, presents one of the most serious problems facing the earthquake engineer today. This problem has generated a wide range of research directed to both the retrofit and repair of such structures. The research reported in this paper has to do with testing the suitability of a thin ferrocement overlay for such an application. A total of seven specimens were constructed and tested to destruction in diagonal tension. Two of these were bare brick masonry and the remainder had a ferrocement overlay with various amounts of steel reinforcement. The results of the testing indicate the suitability of ferrocement as a retrofit (strengthening) material.