Enhancing the out-of-plane performance of masonry walls using engineered cementitious composite

A novel technique for enhancing the out-of-plane behaviour of masonry infill walls is proposed herein. The technique involves the use of a thin layer of engineered cementitious composite (ECC) which is fully or partially bonded onto the face of masonry walls. To investigate the feasibility of this technique, the present research focuses on studying the behaviour of a series of beam-like masonry specimens with or without an ECC retrofitting layer subjected to a four-point bending load. The load is applied monotonically to failure at rates of 1 mm/min or 200 mm/min. The results show that the ECC-retrofitted specimens exhibited a significant enhancement in the out-of-plane performance in terms of strength, stiffness and deflection compared to the un-strengthened specimens. It is observed that specimens with a partially bonded ECC layer out-performed their counterparts having a fully bonded ECC layer. The partially de-bonding technique is found to allow the ECC layer achieve its full ductility potential. The results also reveal that specimens subjected to an elevated loading rate exhibited a greater load-carrying capacity and stiffness but lower deflection.