الملخص الإنجليزي
Most historical buildings and structures in Oman were built using unreinforced stone
masonry. These structures have deteriorated due to ageing of materials, environmental
degradation and lack of maintenance as these structures have negligible resistance to
shearstresses. This research presents a study of the physical, chemical and mechanical
properties of local building materials and the results of an experimental study on the
in-plane shear effectiveness of a modern strengthening technique applied to existing
masonry walls. The technique consists of the application, on one and two faces of the
walls of a textile reinforced mortar (TRM). Shear loading tests of full-scale masonry
samples (1000 mm width, 1000 mm height and 350 mm depth) were carried out
considering one unreinforced specimen and six different cases of reinforced
specimens. The performance of unreinforced and reinforced specimens was analyzed
and compared. It was shown that strengthened specimens can resist in-plane shear
stresses almost 1.5 to 2.1 times greater than those of unreinforced specimen;
moreover, they can provide ductility rather than sudden failure, due to the presence
of the fiberglass and basalt mesh, which restricts the opening of cracks.
