Reinforcement of damaged brick pillars and assessment of their reliability

Abstract

During the operation of structures, cracks of various types may appear in brick constructions for various reasons. However, after strengthening, these structures can continue to be safely operated. The most effective and widely used method for strengthening existing masonry constructions is reinforcement with jackets. Columns and supports with cracks, encased in a jacket, almost completely restore their load-bearing capacity. The jackets can be made from various materials, including steel, reinforced concrete, mortar-reinforced materials, as well as composite materials such as carbon fiber fabrics, tapes, and meshes, brick, and reinforced brick. For the partial restoration of the load-bearing capacity of brick columns damaged by main cracks, it is proposed to reinforce them with a reinforced concrete jacket, where the reinforcement is made using a perforated and drawn sheet, and the concrete is applied using the shotcreting method. The paper fully describes the technological process sequence for strengthening brick constructions. The behavior of brick columns before and after reinforcement has been studied and analyzed. Test results have shown that strengthened brick columns, as a composite structure, can withstand loads comparable to those of undamaged columns. Additionally, the paper proposes an algorithm for the reliability calculation of brick columns in three states: undamaged columns, columns damaged during testing, and strengthened damaged columns.