Flexural Strengthening of Stone Masonry Walls Using Textile-Reinforced Sarooj Mortar

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. This research investigates the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of local building materials and the results of an experimental study on the out-of-plane bending effectiveness of an innovative strengthening technique applied to existing masonry walls. The technique consists of the application on one face of the walls of a basalt textile-reinforced sarooj mortar (TRM). Four-point bending tests of full-scale masonry samples (1000 mm width, 2000 mm height, and 350 mm depth) were carried out using one unreinforced specimen and three different cases of reinforced specimens. The performance of unreinforced and reinforced specimens was analyzed and compared. The strengthened specimens were able to resist moments of out-of-plane bending 2.5 to 3 times greater than those of unreinforced specimen (160%- 233% increase). Moreover, the strengthened walls were able to sustain higher deformations (deflections) than the unreinforced specimen ranging from 20%-130%. The results showed that using TRM was effective for the out-of-plane strengthening of stone masonry using a local material (sarooj) that is compatible with existing stone masonry building materials.