experimental study on seismic behavior of masonry buildings retrofitted with shotcrete

Unreinforced masonry is the most common form of building construction in iran and many other countries. in developing countries, this type of building is being constructed for residential or educational uses, mostly regardless of engineering design schemes and principals. previous observations indicate problems such as improper seismic resistant system, ill-suited structural detailing, and weak materials to leave masonry buildings vulnerable even to smallest lateralexcitations; so that in the case of a major seismic event such as recent kermanshah earthquake, there would be no guaranty for the safety of the residents. as many iranian buildings are masonry and because the occupants often have little financial affordability, replacing these structures cannot be concerned as an alternative, and further investigations areneeded in order to develop low-cost, feasible and simple methods for retrofitting these structures and minimizing the damages; this requires fully understanding the seismic behavior of these structures by the means of experimental tests.