Vaibhav Singhal, Akshay Gupta and Gaurav Meena
Vaibhav Singhal, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta, Patna, Bihar, India, singhal@iitp.ac.in
Akshay Gupta, Ph.D. Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta, Patna, Bihar, India, akshay_1921ce15@iitp.ac.in
Gaurav Meena, Former Undergraduate Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta, Patna, Bihar, India, gaurav.ce16@iitp.ac.in
ABSTRACT
In modern framed structures, AAC masonry is popularly used for the construction of infill and partition walls. The construction of walls with AAC blocks has been found to be more economical
and less painstaking compared to other masonry units. However, researchers have highlighted that AAC masonry shows poor tensile capacity under in-plane and out-of-plane loads and may exhibit inferior performance during seismic events. In this study, the flexural and shear performance of AAC masonry was enhanced by using fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM). This
strengthening scheme was applied in two modes: direct and sandwich, which differ in the method of placing the fabric. In the sandwich method, the fabric was embedded between adhesive mortar and cement-sand mortar layers. In the direct method, the fabric was directly affixed to the masonry surface using anchors and then covered by a thick layer of cement-sand mortar. The experimental results showed that the proposed strengthening methods could improve the strength and ductility of the masonry under shear and flexural loads. The test results showed comparable strengths for both types of strengthening methodologies. However, the direct mode of application, along with mechanical anchors, was found to be more helpful in attaining higher deformability. The superior performance of strengthened specimens suggests that either of these two methods of fabric application may be chosen for the strengthening of AAC masonry, depending on the availability of materials and ease in construction.
KEYWORDS: AAC Masonry, Flexural and shear strength, FRCM strengthening, Seismic strengthening
