Compressive properties of traditional brick masonry with crack reinforced with GFRP bars embedded in the horizontal mortar joint

Cracking is a common damage form of historical masonry buildings, which has negative effect on its mechanical properties. To improve the compressive properties of historical masonry with crack, the compressive properties of the traditional brick masonry with crack reinforced with glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) bars embedded in the horizontal mortar joint were studied. Five traditional brick masonry specimens, including three specimens with initial crack reinforced with different embedded bar ratios and embedded bar locations, two unreinforced specimens with and without initial cracks were tested under compressive loading. The results showed that the failure of the reinforced specimens was mainly concentrated in narrow surface rather than wide surface and showed ductile failure characteristics. The cracking load, compressive strength and elastic modulus of the reinforced specimens were all increased compared with that of the unreinforced specimen with crack. Specifically, the compressive strength was increased by more than 25%. Furthermore, the calculation method of the compressive strength of the reinforced traditional brick masonry with crack was proposed. Numerical simulation of the reinforced traditional brick masonry with crack was carried out. The influence of the embedded bar ratio on the compressive strength of traditional brick masonry with crack was analyzed, and the optimal embedded bar ratio was obtained. The research results can provide reference for the protection and reinforcement scheme optimization of historical masonry buildings.