Open issue for confinament of masonry colun with frcmsystem: Theoretical and experimental investigation

The Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrices (FRCMs) are promising solution for the confinement of masonry column because they demonstrated strengthening effectiveness and, at the same time, compatibility with historical substrates. Nevertheless, the matrix is responsible of the stress-transfer from the structural element to the fabric-reinforcement. So, in case of poor-quality mortar, the effectiveness of the strengthening can be limited or even compromised. For this reason, few studies have been targeted to this aspect in the recent past; while theoretical studies are still limited. The present paper refers to the results of an experimental and analytical investigation on FRCM confined clay brick masonry. A series of small-scale masonry columns were tested under monotonic centred load until collapse. The varied parameters were: the number of confining layers (i.e. 1, 2 and 3) and the confinement configuration (i.e. continuous and discontinuous). The aim of the research consists of strengthening the knowledge in the field of FRCM-confinement in order to provide a contribution in developing accurate analytical design-oriented formulas. At this scope, some analytical models, available in the technical literature and proposed for national Guide Lines, were also adopted for predicting the herein reported experimental results. The outcomes evidenced that the number of FRCM-layers is a crucial parameter for the accuracy of the forecasts.