Unreinforced masonry is the construction system in most of the historic structures and a
considerable percentage of existing residential buildings in Egypt. One of the important
disadvantages of unreinforced masonry construction is its low resistance to tensile
stresses and lateral loads, so there is a need for appropriate strengthening. Fiber
reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been successfully applied as externally
bonded reinforcement for strengthening of reinforced concrete and masonry structural
elements. Their excellent strength-to-weight ratio and ease of installation make it an
attractive alternative for traditional strengthening methods.
This paper presents experimental investigation of strengthening masonry wallets and
vaults using FRP composites, as well as other traditional methods such as steel
reinforcement bars, ferrocement layers and polymer mortar layers.
The experimental results showed that FRP gave higher strengthening level and better
failure mode than using traditional steel reinforcement bars or ferrocement layers. Use of
glass fiber composites is also a cheap technique. Using polymer mortar was the least
effective technique. Strengthening of masonry wallets using FRP surface layer was found
to be an efficient method, where the failure load was double that of the control sample.