OUT-OF-PLANE PERFORMANCE OF FULL-SIZE UNREINFORCED BRICK WALLS RETROFITTED WITH EXPANSIVE EPOXY

El-Zeiny¹ and J. Larralde²

1. Faculty, Department of Civil & Geomatics Engineering & Construction, California State University, Fresno, CA 93740-8030, aelzeiny@csufresno.edu

2. Professor, Department of Civil & Geomatics Engineering & Construction, California State University, Fresno, CA 93740-8030, jesuslm@csufreso.edu

ABSTRACT

A pioneer technique to repair un-reinforced brick walls cracked during past seismic events, or to retrofit existing brick walls to meet the current code requirements is subjected to experimental investigation. Such walls are very common in historical buildings. The walls are injected by expansive epoxy, known as Bisfoam-3. After the material is shot into walls, it expands, bonds and hardens. This injection technique does not affect the appearance of these historical walls and consequently it preserves their historical value. The investigation consists of testing the seismic performance and ductility of the plain brick walls first. Then, those broken walls are repaired using the foam and tested. In addition, another set of walls that has not been broken first are strengthened with foam and tested. Performance of all walls is studied and compared to prove the effectiveness of the foam material in the retrofitting and repairing of brick walls.

Key words: Expansive, Epoxy, Un-Reinforced, Brick Walls, Retrofit, Out-of-Plane.

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