Assessment of FRCM shear reinforcement technique on masonry panels by means of a wide collection of data

The assessment of the enhancement in shear strength of masonry pier walls achieved by Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) composites has gained more and more interest in the profession. Recently design codes and guidelines provided some formulations for the design of such systems, however the potentially very wide range of variables in real applications, such as material, configuration, and reinforcement types, yielded to increasing research in these years. Hence, a wide test database based on numerous scientific experimental research reports has been compiled containing more than 550 diagonal compression test results, as a key tool for the research. This database encompassing diagonal compression tests carried out on panels of different masonry materials and in different reinforcement configurations, has as variable parameters not only the masonry substrate but also numerous types of fiber and matrix with various arrangements on one or two sides and one or more layers. About half of the database contains specimens with FRCM on both sides of the walls; each set has at least one reference unreinforced masonry (URM) panel. With the data obtained from the database, various elaborations and graphs have been developed to evaluate any correlations between the increases in strength provided to the reinforced panels and the mechanical and geometric parameters of the applied reinforcements.