strength evaluation of masonry walls externally bonded using frp fabrics under out-of-plane loading through fragility curves

The aim of this paper is to estimate the behavior of out-of-plane load-bearing masonry walls through invented fragility curves based on experimental investigations and numerical modeling. a limited number of tests is also carried out to estimate the overall response of masonry walls strengthened by frps under out-of-plane loading. uncertainty sources are considered as well as aspect ratios, mortar joint characteristics, material properties, compression load, wall thickness and loading plate dimensions. two limiting states are assumed for the unreinforced masonry walls, the first one corresponds to the maximum strength of the examined walls and the second one is identified by the post-peak strength at 80 percent of the out-of-plane ultimate load capability. this study focuses on the estimating damage probability of masonry walls with different characteristics. results show that damage probability of rectangular masonry walls is 7% more than square walls at 0.2% drift. it is also observed that the probability of damage of masonry walls covered by cementitious coating is decreased 34% at 0.1% drift value. damage probability of unreinforced masonry walls is highly pronounced by in-plane pressure so that the probability of damage is decreased about 48% at drift of 0.15%. results show that the damage probability of masonry walls strengthened by frps is remarkably lower than 40% when unreinforced masonry walls reach to the 100% failure. the difference between the out-of-plane deformation of unreinforced and frp strengthened walls in all damage states is exclusively high and the difference was increased by growing the probability of damage