Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

In situ repair technique of infill masonry walls in steel frames damaged after T
an earthquake
Mohammad Soheil Ghobadia, , Roohollah Ahmady Jazanyb, Hamidreza Farshchic
⁎

a
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Imam Khomeini International University, PO Box 34149-16818, Qazvin, Iran
b
Department of Civil Engineering, East Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
c
International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Tehran, Iran

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The present paper first reviews the scientific information about masonry buildings in terms of the structural
Infilled steel frame performance of different masonry walls, usual pre-earthquake retrofitting methods, and post-earthquake repair
Post-earthquake repair methods. From this, it is found that limited information is available on applicable repair methods for damaged
Cracked infill restoration masonry walls after the occurrence of an earthquake event. There is an essential need from the perspective of
Crimped wire mesh
disaster management strategies to provide urgent aid to casualties of moderate seismic events well before
Cementitious plastering
Urgent disaster management strategy
preparing damage assessment data and a comprehensive retrofitting program for the earthquake-affected area.
Crack stitching For this reason, three experiments were designed to investigate the effect of brick masonry infill on a simple steel
Critical review of masonry structures frame and the success rate of a new method of repairing damaged infill. In the proposed repair method, cracks in
the damaged masonry infill are stitched by crimped wire meshes in the shape of Band-Aids and cementitious
plaster is used to coat the attached wire meshes. The crimped wire meshes must be fastened to the infill with
hooked driven nails and must be attached perpendicular to diagonal crack paths and the four corners and centre
of the infill. This method is presented for efficient and simple in situ repair interventions to provide temporary
residency for casualties. Usage of plasters including accelerated cement or application of accelerated curing
methods can reduce the time of repair construction and prepare the proposed method for urgent aids against
aftershocks. No inappropriate structural effects of the steel frame-infill interaction were observed during these
tests. Furthermore, the results indicated that the repair method not only restored the lost strength of the da-
maged infill but also recovered the stiffness and ductility of the reference specimen based on the experimental
evidence. Following the experiments, a practical design methodology for the required crimped wire mesh spe-
cification based on the length of the infill diagonal cracks was recommended.

1. Introduction However, engineered masonry buildings, which conform to standards,

Masonry structures are among the most common types of buildings,
being economical and easily made. The possibility of using conven-
tional materials, the easy method of construction and the lower level of
construction expertise needed are characteristics of masonry structures.
However, they are brittle structures because of the fragile nature of the
materials and elements used in their construction. Numerous masonry
structures are found across famous city centres, rural regions and
mountainous parts of different countries such as the southern USA, Iran
(see Fig. 1), Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand. Using
infill masonry walls in steel frames are one of the prevalent type of
construction in Iran (Fig. 1d–f). Lessons from past earthquakes [1–6]
have demonstrated that some masonry structures are vulnerable and it
is essential to investigate their complex performance in detail.
have acceptable seismic performance. Many performance assessment
studies and retrofitting methods have been examined by researchers
and are described in the next section.
1.1. Critical review on masonry structures
Masonry structures are built from units and binder mortar. Different
types of bricks, concrete blocks, marble, stone, granite, adobe, and tiles
are used as units in masonry works. The mortars are mixtures of binding
materials, which can be cement, lime, and soil, with sand.
Comprehensive experimental research on the structural performance of
various masonry walls is summarized in Table 1. Regarding Table 1, the
masonry wall types consist of: (1) unreinforced masonry infill [7–10];
(2) unreinforced masonry wall [11–17]; (3) confined masonry wall

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: msghobadi@eng.ikiu.ac.ir (M.S. Ghobadi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.10.022
Received 6 April 2018; Received in revised form 26 September 2018; Accepted 11 October 2018
Available online 31 October 2018
0141-0296/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

Fig. 1. Examples of heritage and traditional masonry buildings in Iran: (a) restaurant, (b) Grand Bazaar, (c) Great Bath, (d) residential, (e) infill masonry wall, and (f)
infilled steel frame building.

Table 1
Summary of masonry wall typologies and associated research.
Masonry wall type Used units Country of research Researchers

Unreinforced masonry infill Perforated clay brick USA Henderson et al. [7]
Unreinforced masonry infill Perforated clay block, AAC block, CA block Croatia Markulak et al. [8]
Unreinforced masonry infill Clay brick Iran Jazany et al. [9]
Unreinforced and CFRP reinforced masonry infill Perforated clay brick Turkey Ozkaynak et al. [10]
Unreinforced masonry wall Perforated clay brick Australia Griffith et al. [11]
Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Iran Dolatshahi and Aref [12]
Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Italy Giaretton et al. [13]
Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Australia Griffith et al. [14]
Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Iran Dolatshahi and Yekrangnia [15]
Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Iran Karimi et al. [16]
Unreinforced masonry spandrel Clay brick Italy Gattesco et al. [17]
Confined masonry wall Clay brick India Singhal and Rai [18]
Confined masonry wall Perforated clay brick Croatia Matoševí et al. [19]
Confined masonry wall Clay brick Egypt Okail et al. [20]
Combined and confined masonry wall Clay brick + hollow block Mexico Tena-Colunga et al. [21]
Fully grouted reinforced masonry concrete wall Hollow concrete block USA Shedid et al. [22]
Non/partially/fully grouted concrete masonry wall Concrete masonry block Canada Liu and Manesh [23]
Partially grouted reinforced masonry concrete wall Hollow concrete block USA Bolhassani et al. [24]
Hybrid masonry wall (fully grouted reinforced wall connected to the steel Hollow concrete block USA Abrams et al. [25]
beam)
Sandwich composite panel infill – China Hou et al. [26]
Precast concrete infill – Netherlands Hoenderkamp et al. [27]
Plasterboard partition infill – Italy Magliulo et al. [28]

[18–21]; and (4) partially/fully grouted masonry wall [22–25].
Unreinforced masonry infills are those masonry walls that are used
with surrounding steel/concrete frames. Infills are laid after frame
construction and are not attached to the frames, so they are categorized
as non-structural elements. However, they increase the lateral stiffness
of the structure while the surrounding frames provide the required
ductility and confinement of the walls [7]. Therefore, the presence of
infill must be taken into account in the design phase of the structure
and the frames must be designed based on relevant seismic design
codes. Typical failure modes of masonry infills are wall corner crushing,
diagonal cracking of walls, and shear sliding of units [38]. Unreinforced
masonry infills are still utilized in the current building stock. The
structural behaviour of infilled frame is completely different in steel
frames compared with reinforced concrete frames that should be

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M.S. Ghobadi et al.
considered in structural designing.
Other types of wall, i.e. unreinforced masonry walls, are used as
load-bearing walls for both gravity and lateral loading without addi-
tional strengthening elements. This type of masonry construction was
used in heritage and traditional buildings, and many cases of structural
damage occurred in this kind of construction [1–6]. Unreinforced ma-
sonry structures resist earthquake loads as integrated shell-type struc-
tures, whose integrity is provided by the cohesive strength made by the
mortar between bricks. The aforementioned failure modes of masonry
infill and out-of-plane movement of walls are considered as the failure
mechanisms of unreinforced masonry walls [12,45].
The third type of walls, i.e. confined masonry walls, are mostly
utilized in current construction of low-rise buildings (1 to 3 storeys). In
this system type, reinforced concrete tie-beams and -columns are con-
structed as surrounding elements of the walls, in such a way that the tie
elements must be constructed after wall construction, so that the tie
elements act as bond components for the wall. This construction type
does not need a complex engineering phase or high-quality workman-
ship because simple guidelines are used for construction. In confined
masonry walls, tie-beams and -columns are strengthened by the ma-
sonry wall as shear-resistant elements and the wall is strengthened by
the confinement of the tie elements [18]. Typical failure modes of this
type of masonry wall are shear and axial (buckling and tension) failure
of the tie elements, bond failure between the wall and tie elements, and
typical failures of walls like unreinforced masonry walls [6].
The last type of wall, grouted-reinforced masonry walls, are an
improved type of masonry wall in which reinforcement bars pass
through some or all of the holes of hollow concrete blocks, and are then
filled by grout. This type of masonry wall is common in the USA and
does not have the deficiencies of unreinforced masonry walls. Typical
failure modes of reinforced walls are similar to those of reinforced shear
walls, including sliding, rocking, shear, and flexural failure modes.
Other researchers developed innovative masonry walls such as hybrid
walls [25], which have superior performance compared to the afore-
mentioned routine masonry walls.
Studies regarding the in-plane strength of masonry walls, out-of-
plane strength of masonry walls, interaction of the in-plane and out-of-
plane strength of walls, the connection detailing of masonry walls to
surrounding elements, the effects of masonry walls on the natural
period of the structure, the use of different mortars and units in ma-
sonry structure construction, the performance of different infill types
[26–28] in structures, various retrofitting methods of seismically defi-
cient masonry structures, and different repair methods of damaged
masonry buildings are still being pursued.
In order to mitigate the earthquake risk and reduce human losses,
updating traditional and heritage masonry structures is a prioritized
strategy of governments. In this regard, various global and local ret-
rofitting plans have been implemented in cities with masonry buildings.
Some remarkable repair and retrofitting methods that have been
trialled by researchers are presented in Table 2. FRP, GFRP, and CFRP
coating in the form of horizontal, vertical, X-shaped strips or complete
overlay have been utilized for the strengthening of all types of wall
[29–31,34–38,54]. Composite polymers have been widely used in the
retrofitting of weak masonry structures because of their high strength
and ease of application. Also, using conventional plaster, cementitious
plaster, and high performance mortar coating with or without mesh is
common [29,32,33,35,39–41]. Different types of mesh have been used
for the reinforcement of mortars, such as PVC net, ferrocement mesh,
textile, polypropylene fibre, and wire mesh [29,32,39,54]. Another
approach to the retrofitting of masonry walls is by adding vertical,
horizontal or X-shaped steel straps to the wall [42,56]. Similarly,
adding steel vertical ties, or post-tension/pre-tension elements such as
wire ropes, rebars, rods and tendons has been applied [34,43–52,55].
Meanwhile, reconstruction of the damaged wall, grouting the cavities of
the wall, adding confinement ties to the wall, filling generated cracks,
filling new horizontal and vertical joints, and strengthening the brick
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Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679
floors, interior openings and facades are some post-earthquake inter-
ventions for damaged buildings [43–48].
Besides understanding the masonry wall performance and common
retrofitting detailing of masonry buildings, lessons from past earth-
quakes [1–6] provide an opportunity to examine the current knowledge
of masonry structures and to review the approach of relevant design
codes. Based on Refs. [1–6], it is recommended to avoid using abrupt
vertical discontinuities in the lateral strength or stiffness of the masonry
structure, or large torsional eccentricities in the plan of masonry
buildings. In addition, arranging multiple walls symmetrically in the
perimeter of the plan is beneficial. Large openings in ground-floor fa-
cade walls create a soft storey and should be avoided. Unreinforced
masonry walls and adobe masonry buildings are vulnerable and they
are not recommended. End-bay bracing can increase the seismic safety
of confined masonry walls. In the retrofitting strategy, the weight and
arrangement of additional elements to the masonry building should be
considered to control the value of the seismic base shear and de-
formation compatibility of the elements incorporated with masonry
walls.
Furthermore, it should be considered that strengthening specific
areas of the structure can cause areas of high stiffness and areas of
lower stiffness in the same structure. Therefore, in the event of an
earthquake, damage can be observed in the areas of the masonry infill
that have not been strengthened. In the next section, the shortcomings
of the scientific literature will be discussed.
1.2. Defining the shortcomings of post-earthquake repair methods and scope
of the present research
Most investigations have focused on the constructional phase, wall
behavioral assessment [7–28], and pre-earthquake retrofitting methods
for seismically deficient masonry buildings [29–40,49–56]. Indeed,
intact specimens were retrofitted and tested to evaluate the success rate
of the retrofitting methods considered. Among all the researches men-
tioned in Tables 1 and 2, apparently a few references [41–48] have
been conducted on repairing the damaged structure after an earthquake
event. The present research tries to answer the question “can we repair
moderately damaged masonry buildings efficiently after earthquake
events to provide temporary accommodation for casualties?” Disaster
management strategies aim to achieve a necessary intervention for
earthquake casualties and to accommodate them in safe houses after
the earthquake well ahead of providing the comprehensive retrofitting
schedule of city buildings. Therefore, an efficient method is proposed
here for the urgent repair of cracked masonry infills in earthquake-af-
fected regions, after which the restored structural performance of the
infill will finally be assessed. For this reason, three experiments were
performed, on a bare steel frame, a masonry-infilled steel frame, and a
restored damaged masonry infill, to determine the applicability of the
developed restoration method. Discussion of the success rate of the
proposed method in terms of the seismic performance of the restored
infill masonry will be presented.
2. Experimental investigation
2.1. Field investigation and prototype definition
To study the proposed repair method, a real case study should be
chosen to provide enough structural information for evaluating the
wall– steel frame interaction accurately. It should be noted that, per-
formance of infills in steel frames is completely different from re-
inforced concrete frames and conclusions from this study cannot be
extended to reinforced concrete frames. In view of achieving a retro-
fitting effect on a damaged masonry wall, a simple steel frame was
selected for the surrounding elements, with seat angle connections to
act as pin connections. Seat angle connections are classified as simple
shear connections [57]. In other words, a simple steel frame was chosen
M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

Table 2
Common retrofitting and repair methods of various wall types.
Retrofitted method Masonry wall type Utilized unit Country of Researchers
research

Using GFRP overlay, plastering and ferrocement mesh, steel Unreinforced masonry infill Clay brick Egypt Abdel-Hafez et al. [29]
rebar impeded in frame
Using CFRP strip overlay Unreinforced masonry infill Perforated clay brick Turkey Altin et al. [30]
Using CFRP strip overlay Unreinforced masonry infill Perforated clay brick Egypt Kassem et al. [31]
Using conventional plaster, PVC net reinforced plaster coating Unreinforced masonry infill Cellular lightweight Croatia Baloevic et al. [32]
concrete brick
Adding reinforced plaster Unreinforced masonry infill Perforated clay brick Portugal Lourenço et al. [33]
Using FRP overlay, adding near surface mounted rode, vertical Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick USA Moon et al. [34]
posttensioning
Using GFPR strip overlay, cementitious plastering Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Iran Sistani nezhad and Kabir
[35]
Using CFRP overlay, GFRP overlay Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Slovenia Gams et al. [36]
Using GFPR composite strips and anchorages Unreinforced masonry wall Stone block Portugal Proença et al. [37]
Using FRP overlay Unreinforced masonry wall Hollow concrete block USA El-Dakhakhni et al. [38]
Plastering with textile reinforced mortar, polypropylene fiber Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Oman Yardim and Lalaj [39]
reinforced mortar, ferrocement reinforced mortar
Using reinforced high performance mortar coating Unreinforced masonry wall Hollow clay brick Italy Messali et al. [40]
Using reinforced connected plastering and connection of wall to Unreinforced masonry wall Stone block Portugal Costa et al. [41]
roof modification
Using vertical and diagonal steel straps Unreinforced masonry wall Perforated clay brick Turkey Altin et al. [42]
Using tension ties between perimeter walls, reinforcement of Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick USA Paret et al. [43]
walls, and fiber-wrap of piers
Reconstruction of damaged wall, using tie-stones, steel-tie rods, Unreinforced masonry wall Stone block Cyprus Christou and Elliotis [44]
restoration of corners, and grouting the cavity of walls
Using a mortar joints technique Unreinforced masonry wall Perforated clay brick UK Wang et al. [45]
Using injection method of cracked walls and strengthening the Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Turkey Akcay et al. [46]
brick floors, interior openings and facades
Using polymer PM to fill new horizontal and vertical joints or to Unreinforced masonry wall Hollow clay block Europe Viskovic et al. [47,48]
fill generated cracks
Adding vertical steel ties to wall Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Iran Darbhanzi et al. [49]
Adding steel moment frame to masonry building Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick Iran Mazloom [50]
Using unbonded prestressed wire rope units Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick South Korea Yang et al. [51]
Using external prestressed tendons Unreinforced masonry wall Clay brick China Ma et al. [52]
Adding cold formed steel structure as vertical addition system of Unreinforced masonry wall Hollow clay block Italy Terracciano et al. [53]
masonry building
Using ferrocement and GFRP Confined masonry wall Clay brick Egypt El-Diasity et al. [54]
Providing confinement by adding steel and reinforced concrete Confined masonry wall Stone block Iran Ahmadizadeh and Shakib
tie-beam and tie-column [55]
Using steel straps Partially grouted reinforced Hollow concrete block USA Taghdi et al. [56]
masonry concrete wall

to address the characterization of the surrounding bare frame and to the surrounding steel beam and column of the wall were IPB 120 and
find the contribution made by the bare frame to the overall behaviour IPE 270 based on DIN code definitions [60]. To study the method de-
of the combined system of the infill and frame. A bare frame has almost veloped here for restoring the infill, the specification of infill specimens
no stiffness and strength so the infill effects on the steel frame should be similar to the school walls (Fig. 2) were considered.
recognizable.
Field investigations after the Bam earthquake [5,9] showed that
2.2. Test setup and specimen’s definition
infilled steel frames were damaged moderately and various masonry
walls of infilled buildings cracked under the seismic loads. For example,
Since there were some limitations on the loading and control
Fig. 2 shows a damaged school building in Bam city after the earth-
equipment in the lab, a half-scale school wall was assigned for defining
quake. The plan of this building was symmetric in two directions and
the specimens. Figs. 3 and 4 display the test setup, lab reaction frame,
the building consisted of perpendicular masonry walls, which were
lateral torsional buckling supports of columns, instrumentation of
surrounded by vertical and horizontal steel elements. The school
specimens and constructed specimen. Similar to the school building,
building did not experience an overall collapse during the Bam earth-
IPB 120 and IPE 270 sections [60] were assigned to the columns and
quake. However, it failed the immediate occupancy level of structural
beams of the specimens, respectively. Based on the selection of the half-
performance [58] and it could not provide sufficient safety to maintain
scale for specimens, the infill thickness selected was 10 cm single-leaf
its functionality for occupancy, because it had lost lateral stiffness and
brick. Solid clay bricks with no voids were used for the brickworks and
strength due to the cracking in the masonry walls. An X-shaped pattern
stretcher bonds were selected for the brickwork pattern of the speci-
and diagonal tensile cracks, the pulled down parapet, and a wall moved
mens, similar to the school brickwork. The dimensions of the clay bricks
out-of-plane can be seen in Fig. 2a–d, showing different facades.
used were 5 × 10 × 20 cm3 . The thickness of the mortar was 1.5 cm
The school walls had failure modes of cracking that conform with
between bricks. Full bed and head joints were considered for all the
the aims of the repair method investigated in these research experi-
brickwork. In order to reduce the water absorption from wet mortar
ments. The dimensions of the school wall were 3 m × 4 m (height and
joints and cure the cementitious mortar, the bricks were pre-soaked,
width) and the thickness of the wall was 20 cm double-leaf brick. Solid
resulting in a higher brick–mortar bond strength [61] and the infill
clay brick with no voids [12–18] was used in the construction of the
were moistened for 7 days [71]. Direct contacts between the sur-
school. Flemish and stretcher bonds [59] were applied for the brick-
rounding frame and infill were provided by full mortar joints between
work pattern in the school construction. In addition, typical sections of
the frame and masonry wall.

668
M.S. Ghobadi et al.
Fig. 2. Moderately to severely damaged school building (infills in steel frames)
after Bam earthquake: (a) south façade: diagonal tensile crack, (b) north façade,
(c) X-shaped crack pattern in internal walls, (d) west façade: X-shaped crack.
The crimped wire mesh which was used in the repaired infill spe-
cimens (Fig. 4) comprises ribbed wires which are woven together to
make a rectangular net [62] (Fig. 6). This type of wire mesh was se-
lected because the ribbed shape of each rod of the mesh provided
greater anchorage in the cement plaster and tolerated higher levels of
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Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679
stress. In addition, the rod diameter of the wire mesh was 3 mm. The
pin type of column base connection was selected, similar to the school
building. In defining the geometry of the specimens, the wall width and
height were chosen as 2.0 and 1.5 m, respectively, according to the half-
scale prototype frame dimensions (Fig. 4).
Also, sufficient restraint was provided to prevent out-of-plane
buckling of the frame at the top of the column when subjected to quasi-
static cyclic loading. For these restrainer elements, two IPE 140 profiles
were connected to the reaction frame in parallel using bolted end plate
connections, and were connected together with battens every 50 cm. To
exclude any friction forces between the lateral support and columns,
the contact area of these elements was lubricated. It should be noted
that the columns in the two models were stiffened at the loading point
of the hydraulic jack by stiffener plates (Fig. 4). To measure the dis-
placement at specified points of the specimens, displacement transdu-
cers (LVDTs) were installed in the positions indicated with red numbers
in Fig. 4. Meanwhile, four bidirectional axial strain gauges were in-
stalled on the steel column webs, in the vicinity of the column base
connections, designated as C1 to C4 in Fig. 4. The steel parts of the
specimens were whitewashed to permit better observation of the stress
level and yielding conditions. Furthermore, after the constructional
phase of the specimens, the masonry infill was coated with a fine layer
(1 mm) of low strength plaster to clarify the crack patterns of the infill.
The effects of this layer on the seismic behaviour of the specimens were
considered to be negligible.
The reverse cyclic loading protocol of the tests is depicted in Fig. 5
in accordance with the ATC 24 standard [63]. This monotonic loading
history can be implemented for different types of structure and mate-
rial. The amplitudes of the displacement history cycles are multiples of
the yield deformation ( y ) of the structures, which can be computed
based on push test or numerical analysis estimation. Based on ATC 24
[63] Six cycles with amplitude of y , three cycles with amplitude of y ,
2 y , 3 y , repeatedly, two cycles with amplitude of 4 y , 5 y , 6 y , re-
peatedly, should be applied.
2.3. Material properties
In this section, the material properties of the steel, crimped wire
mesh and the compressive strength of the clay brick, mortar, and ce-
ment plaster were determined. ST37 [64] steel material was used in
bare frame construction. In addition, the crimped wire mesh during the
tensile coupon test [65] is presented in Fig. 6. The conventional ma-
terial used for the crimped wire mesh is steel and the stress–strain
specifications of this material are similar to ST-44 steel type [66]. The
stress–strain diagrams of four coupon samples are depicted in Fig. 6.
Steel material of wire mesh had average yield stress of 315 MPa with
coefficient of variation (C.o.V) of 2.21%, average ultimate stress of
458 MPa with C.o.V of 2.89%, and average elongation of 7%.
A compression test of bricks as a unit of the masonry wall was
performed according to ASTM C67-17 [67]. Because of the diversity of
the material properties of bricks, four tests were carried out to get a
proper estimation of the mechanical properties of the brick. The di-
mensions of the used clay bricks were 5 × 10 × 20 cm3 similar to the
infill specimen. Table 3 shows the test results of brick compressive
strength. This C.o.V shows the properties of the bricks used are highly
variable. However, since same bricks are used in the both infill and
repaired infill specimens, this variation has negligible effect on differ-
ences between strength results of both specimens. On the other hand,
since the infill specimen reloaded after proposed repair technique ex-
ertion as the repaired infill specimen, the bricks of both aforementioned
specimens are the same and the results of differences between strength
of both specimens has negligible relation to the variation value of brick
compressive strength. Thus, this variation has insignificant effects on
proposed repair method concept and corresponding discussions.
Compression tests of the mortar were done according to ASTM
C109-16a [68]. The cementitious mortar mixture was made with the
M.S. Ghobadi et al.
Fig. 3. Experimental detail of Infill specimen (a) Reaction frame (b) 3D view of specimen and reaction frame (c) 500 kN hydraulic jack (d) lateral torsional buckling
support (e) strain gauges (f) LVDTs.
volumetric proportion of 1:3 (cement:sand). The cement content was
350 kg/m3 in the mortar mixture. In order to sample the mortar, six
samples for compressive strength were taken while constructing the
infill. These samples were 5 cm cubes. All the curing conditions of these
samples were similar to infill concrete curing and the samples were
moistened for 7 days, like the infill curing phase. The samples were
broken 28 days after construction to determine the specified compres-
sive strength of the mortar. Table 3 presents the results of the test.
In addition, the mechanical properties of the cementitious plaster,
which covered the infill for repair purposes, were determined by the
compression test, which was conducted according to the details of
ASTM C39-17 [69]. The specimens were cylindrical in shape with
15 cm diameter and 30 cm height. The aforementioned standard is
usual for concrete and is selected for cementitious plaster because this
standard is recommended for concrete having a density in excess of
800 kg/m3. With regarding to Table 3, cementitious plaster has large
density value. The results are summarized in Table 3.
3. Experimental evidence and constructional details of proposed
repair method
3.1. Bare frame specimen
The simple frame with double seat angle connection was cyclically
tested (Fig. 7) to differentiate the seismic performance of the frame and
masonry infill. In the first 8 cycles of loading, the specimen showed
elastic behaviour which corresponds to a storey drift angle of 0.012 rad.
Subsequently, at the 9th cycle of loading corresponding to a storey drift
angle of 0.015 rad, the specimen entered an inelastic phase but could
not tolerate the inelastic behaviour because the fillet weld line of the
top seat angle connection fractured at a storey drift angle of 0.02 rad
and the test was terminated (Fig. 7). Fig. 8 shows that the peak strength
of the cyclic response reached 30 kN at a storey drift angle of 0.02 rad.
Although the beam and columns of the bare frame specimen did not
enter a nonlinear behaviour of steel material according to the test ob-
servation and measured strains, most of the nonlinear behaviour illu-
strated in the cyclic response was due to a large inelastic deformation of
the double seat angle connection, as shown in Fig. 7.
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Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679
3.2. Infill specimen
Fig. 9a shows the infill specimen before testing. Application of the
cyclic load was initiated and in the early cycles of loading (2nd to 4th
cycles), a crack at the corner of the infill appeared (Fig. 9b). Then
during the 6th–th cycles, with increasing displacement loads, some
cracks were observed in the centre of the infill and were propagated
diagonally to the corners (Fig. 9c). After the 16th to 22nd cycles, the
crack was growing deeper, and from the 22nd cycle to the end, the
welds of the seat angle connection failed (Fig. 9d), then the deepened
crack caused crushing of the plaster, and finally the bricks were exposed
in the centre and corners of the infill (Fig. 9e–f). During the test, the
progressive crack deepened in the mortar layers of the infill corner area
and in places the cracks passed through the bricks (Fig. 9f).
After testing the infill specimen, it was necessary to prepare the
specimen to practise the repair. Therefore, the plaster coating was re-
moved to highlight the path of the cracks and damaged sections of the
infill. Then the paths of the main cracks were highlighted with red
paint1 on the front and rear sides of the specimen (Fig. 10). Based on
this figure, the crack formed with asymmetric pattern regarding the
wall centre during the cyclic test.
The results of the experiment were reported in terms of the lateral
displacement recorded by the LVDTs, the forces output by the actuator
data, and the strain states of the frame by the strain gauge outputs.
Fig. 11 demonstrates the hysteresis response of the infill specimen and
comparative hysteresis of the infill and bare frame specimens. With
regard to Fig. 11a, the crack pattern was asymmetric (see Fig. 10) and
led to an asymmetric hysteresis response. The infill specimen tolerated
∼240 kN lateral load in the positive direction and ∼180 kN in the
negative direction and finally ∼110 kN after cyclic strength degrada-
tion in the negative direction. This behaviour means that cracks formed
in the early cycles of positive direction loading, and the 240 kN load as
the intact ultimate strength of the specimen reduced to 180 kN in the
negative direction, then crack propagation in cyclic loading degraded
the strength to 110 kN. Moreover, the presence of cracks as omitted
strength fuses caused weakening of the specimen and pinching
1
For interpretation of color in Figs. 10, 20, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article.
M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

a Top view of Column tip lateral support behaviour of the hysteresis response. Comparison of the behaviour of
Built up Cross
the bare frame specimen and infill specimen in Fig. 11b revealed that
Fixed to the 2PL180x150x12 section (mobile part) the infill considerably improved the hysteresis behaviour of the sur-
Columns tip lateral support 2IPE140 2PL180x150x12
reaction frame A A
rounding steel frame in terms of stiffness, strength, ductility and energy
Displacement A
dissipation. In the first cycle of loading the stiffness was multiplied by
A
180 mm
transducer 3
PL 100x80x1
PL 126x60x10 25.7 times compared to the bare frame specimen. However, this sig-
(LVDT) Section A-A
2
nificant increase of stiffness would then be degraded to the bare frame
Beam (IPE 270)
Hydraulic jack
stiffness. Therefore, the infill could considerably increase the initial
Seat angle
(500 KN) stiffness of the structure. As concerns the strength analysis, the infill
connection significantly increased the strength of the bare frame specimen. As the
2L100x100x10 1500 mm
bare steel frame did not reach its potential ductility and capacity due to
1
Column (IPB120)
Simple angle
connection
C4 C2 the unexpected failure of the connection at 2% storey drift angle, ex-
pressing the exact calculation for increment of ductility and strength of
C3 C1
(L100x100x10)
2000 mm the specimen was not possible. In total, unreinforced masonry infill
Bare frame upgrades the structural performance of the simple steel frame sig-
nificantly from a non-seismic-resistant structure to a seismic-resistant
b
A A
Same as Bare frame one, and it seems that the combination of a steel frame and un-
reinforced masonry infill provides an acceptable structural performance
A A in seismic areas.
Same as Bare Section A-A
3
frame
2 Beam (IPE 270) 3.3. Constructional detail of proposed repair method and description of
Brickworks
repaired infill specimen recovery

The crushed corners of the infill were repaired by substituting new

1
1500 mm Column (IPB120)
4

Simple angle
bricks and mortar, and the weld of the failed seat angle connection was
C4
C3
C2
C1
connection replaced. After repairing the brickwork of the masonry infill, crack
(L100x100x10)
2000 mm
stitching repair practice was initiated. Rectangular crimped wire me-
shes together with hooked nails were installed (Fig. 12a and b) on two
Infill
sides of the infill perpendicular to the crack paths. Also, five square-
c shaped sheets of wire mesh were installed in the region where there was
Same as Bare frame
A A the critical stress concentration, i.e. the corners of the infill and the
intersection of diagonal cracks (Fig. 12a). The dimensions of the rec-
tangular wire meshes, which were extended beyond the crack paths,
A A
Same as Bare Section A-A
3

2
frame
were 35×14 cm2. These wire meshes were installed in the crack line
Beam (IPE 270)
every 50–60 cm. Anchorage nails were conservatively driven into at
X-shaped crack least the four corners of the rectangular wire mesh area and the aim was
Crimped wire mesh
1
generally to drive nails in at sufficient points to lock the wire mesh
1500 mm 4 Column (IPB120) (Fig. 12b and c). In addition, the nails were fastened to the wire mesh
Simple angle by thin wire knots to ensure the restraint of the wire mesh (Fig. 12c).
C4 C2 connection
C3 C1 (L100x100x10) The nails were L-shaped with 8 cm length of each leg and a 7 mm
2000 mm section diameter. AIII rebar type [70] was selected for these hooked
Repaired Infill nails. Then cement plaster coatings at least 30 mm thick were made on
both faces of the infill (Fig. 12d). These layers were made in at least
Fig. 4. Test setup, designations, and instrumentation of specimens including four or five steps to ensure the bonding of each sub-layer. Finally, the
LVDT (red numbers) and strain gauge locations (C1 C4 red indexes) (a) Bare wire mesh borders locations were marked (Fig. 12d). After finishing the
frame (b) Infill (c) Repaired infill. (For interpretation of the references to colour repair practice, a fine low strength plaster was used to coat the spe-
in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) cimen and then measurement devices were installed as on the infill
specimen.
Whole repair practise lasted about five hours. Meanwhile, the ce-
5 mentitious plaster is moistened seven days after construction to be
4 prepared for achieving full strength of concrete [71]. It should be noted
Storey drift angle (%)

3 that in urgent repair program using accelerated cement or accelerated

2 curing methods [72,73] could reduce the time of repair process. For
1 instance, using Portland cement-based composites by steam curing
0 method can increase the strength of concrete to about 70% of the ul-
-1 timate strength in one day [74,75].
-2
-3 3.4. Repaired infill specimen
-4
-5 When the test was initiated there was no significant observation up
0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 to the 8th cycle, but a vertical crack initiated and progressed adjacent to
Number of cycles the corner area on the wire mesh border. Then some separations oc-
curred in the infill boundaries and column flanges close to the corner
Fig. 5. Cyclic loading protocol [63].
area (Fig. 13a). In the 19th cycle, at the bottom corner area the concrete
layer started to crush and the buckled wire mesh was exposed
(Fig. 13b). It was evident that the damaged area was concentrated at

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M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

600
Crimped wire mesh
500
Stress (MPa)

400
300
200 w-sp-1 w-sp-2
100 w-sp-3 w-sp-4
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Strain (%)

Fig. 6. Tensile coupon test of crimped wire mesh and the resulted stress–strain curves.

Table 3 negative direction of loading.

Compression test results of different materials. It is worth mentioning that the accuracy of the comparison results is
item Average C.o.V Average value of C.o.V value of
valid for moderately damaged masonry structures because the proposed
value of value of Compressive Compressive repair method recovers the lost strength in negative direction and initial
density density strength (MPa) strength (%) stiffness of infill specimen in both direction of loading, whereas the
(kg/m3) (%) strength in positive direction does not degraded significantly (Fig. 14b).
Thus for evaluation of severely damaged infill, another experimental
Brick 2104 3.42 11.8 39.11
Mortar 1704 3.70 6.7 26.31 program is needed.
Cementitious 2034 5.03 14 5.09
plaster
4. Discussion of infill effects and success rate of proposed repair
method

the lower corners of the infill (Fig. 13c). Contrary to the infill specimen,
in the repaired specimen no crack propagation was observed either
along the diagonal path of the infill or in the central region of the infill
(Fig. 13c). The test was terminated when there were large deformations
in the seat angle connections (Fig. 13d).
Fig. 14 represents the hysteresis response of the repaired infill
specimen and other specimens. The ultimate force resistance of the
repaired infill specimen reaches ∼255 kN and ∼240 kN in the positive
and negative loading directions, respectively (Fig. 14a). The specimen
tolerated the cyclic loading with a stable load-bearing behaviour and
the final strength of the specimen decreased to ∼215 kN at the end of
the test. So, a slight strength degradation happened only in the negative
direction of loading during the test. Like the infill specimen, a pinching
phenomenon was observed during the test, which originated from the
separation of the infill boundaries from the columns and the occurrence
of corner crushing. With regard to Fig. 14b, the repaired infill specimen
not only restored the strength of the infill specimen (110 kN) to its
initial full strength (∼240 kN) but also improved asymmetric resistance
behavior compared to the infill specimen in terms of strength and
ductility. The results of this test concluded that the repair method could
recover damaged infill frames efficiently and the restoration strength
might be up to 95% greater than the deteriorated strength of the infill in
The results of this study indicated that the presence of brick ma-
sonry infill in a simple steel frame upgrades the structural performance
of the combined system significantly. Indeed, the stiffness and strength
of the system are enhanced by the infill because of the surrounding
frame confinement for the infill, and the ductility of the system is in-
creased by the frame because of the change in the behaviour of the
surrounding frame to shear-resistant action. Fig. 15 shows the superior
performance of the infilled frame compared with the bare frame in
terms of a push curve comparison. Furthermore, the results proved that
the method developed for repairing damaged masonry infill could be
effective and the result could be promising. According to Fig. 15, the
developed repair practice could not only restore the ultimate strength of
the damaged specimen but even removed its inappropriate asymmetric
response with desirable ductility and stiffness.
Figs. 16 and 17 thoroughly compare the stiffness and dissipated
energy of the infill and repaired infill specimens during cyclic loading,
respectively. Although in the negative direction of loading, the stiffness
of the repaired infill specimens in the primary cycles of loading had a
smaller increment than the infill specimen, the stiffness of the both
direction of loading in the repaired infill specimen were approximately
equivalent to the infill specimen, and the differences were negligible.
Therefore, this method could recover the lost stiffness of the damaged

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M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

transferring system with more ductile behaviour in the presence of in-

fill. The hysteresis diagram of Fig. 18 clearly highlights the infill effects
in terms of dissipating energy and ductility. Furthermore, the repaired
infill specimen had a greater strain level, up to 16,850 microstrain, than
the infill specimen. This behaviour confirmed that a greater shear force
was transferred in the repaired specimen because of the higher rigidity
of the repaired infill and the greater shear reaction of the infill in the
combined system. Hence, by applying this repair method a rigidity
superior to that of the reference infill would be provided. However,
changing performance of the frame to shear control behavior by infills
can be dangerous for reinforced concrete frames, because the shear
force demand of column is increased, whereas concrete column is not
designed for this increased shear force value.
When the infill cracked in the infill specimen, some upwards dis-
placement occurred in the mid-span of the beam, as shown in Fig. 19.
This happened due to the upward pressure of the infill on the top beam.
From this figure, it was apparent that the repaired specimen had a si-
milar behaviour to the reference specimen and both measured dis-
placements were in an equivalent range.

5. Design methodology of developed repair method

5.1. Design limit states and design steps of repaired infill specimen

A conservative practical design methodology based on lost capacity

at the crack length was developed and suggested here. On the other
hand, the proposed design method restores the lost shear and tensile
strengths in the cracks by substituting the strength of the crimped wire
mesh. It is worth mentioning that the proposed design procedure of this
section is a simple practical design guideline and must be validated by
comprehensive experimental observations, hence one experimental
experience of this research can be only considered as a successful ex-
ample for confirming the proposed design equations. On the other
hand, greater experimental program is needed to be conducted in order
Fig. 7. Bare frame specimen, initiation to end of test. to completely validate and improve recommended design equations of
this section. To repair the wall, five square shape of crimped wire
meshes must be attached at the four corners and centre of the infill with
40 the recommended dimensions. These recommendations are illustrated
Bare frame specimen
30 in Fig. 20a. Then the length of the diagonal crack should be measured
20 and the lost shear strength (ACI 318-14 [71], unit: SI) and tensile
Applied load (kN)

10 strength [76] (unit: SI) along the crack path should be calculated based
0 on the following equations, respectively:
-10 Vm = 0.17 fm' tL (1)
-20
-30 Tm 0.1fm' tL (2)
-40
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 where Vm is lost shear strength, Tm is lost tensile strength, is the
fm'
compressive strength of the mortar of the infill, t is the thickness of the
Storey drift angle (%)
infill wall, and L is the length of the diagonal crack outside the corners
Fig. 8. Hysteresis response of bare frame specimen. and centre wire meshes. The shear and tensile resistant strengths should
be provided by the rods of crimped wire mesh regarding the following
wall successfully. equations (AISC 360-16 [77], units: SI), respectively:
According to the diagram of Fig. 17, the developed repair method Vcwm = 0.6FYrod Arod n (3)
made it possible for the repaired specimen to dissipate almost equal
energy than the reference specimen because the dissipated energy in Tcwm = FYrod Arod n (4)
compared cycles is practically the same. This comparison is only made In which Vcwm is the shear resistant strength of rods, Tcwm is the
based on the provided cycles for both aforementioned specimens. tensile resistant strength of rods, FYrod is the yield stress of the rod of
Fig. 18 displays the shear strain history at the web of the column crimped wire mesh, Arod is the rod area of crimped wire mesh, n is the
near the base plate of the specimens. It was evident that the infill number of rods of wire mesh perpendicular to the crack pass, and = 1
changed the simple frame performance to shear control behaviour, for the Vcwm and = 0.9 for the Tcwm . Therefore, by applying the ma-
since the shear strain of 1624 in the bare frame specimen was increased terial properties of the infill mortar and rods of wire mesh, the required
to 11,521 microstrain in the infill specimen. Moreover, the ductility number of rods (n ) would be the greatest value obtained from the shear
enhancement could be seen in the extended hysteresis loops of the infill and tension limit states according to Eqs. (5) and (6), respectively:
specimen. On the other hand, the columns contributed to the load
Vm < Vcwm (5)

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M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

Fig. 9. Experimental investigations of infill specimen: (a) specimen before loading, (b) cracking pattern in the early steps of loading, (c) deepened crack and
appearance of infill bricks, (d) brittle crack of seat angle welds, (e) corner crushing and separation of infill and steel column, (f) opened cracks in corner of infill.

400

300
(a) Infill specimen
200

Applied load (kN) 100

-100

-200

-300
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Storey drift angle (%)
300 (b) Hystersis response of specimens
200

100
Applied load (kN)

-100

-200 Infill specimen

Bare frame specimen
-300
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Storey drift angle (%)
Fig. 11. Hysteresis response of (a) infill specimen, (b) infill and bare frame
specimens.

follows (AISC 360-16 [77], unit: SI):

Vnail = 0.6FYnail Anail (7)

Fig. 10. Painted crack paths on front and rear sides of infill.
Tm < Tcwm
Although the crimped wire meshes are embedded in the cement
plaster of the infill and ribbed-shape of wire mesh rods reduces the
required development length of rods in the cementitious mortar, driven
hooked nails are applied as reserve resistant elements to guarantee
fixing the wire meshes in position. Each nail has the shear strength as
where Vnail is the shear strength of each nail, FYnail is the yield stress
of the nail, Anail is the area of one nail, and = 1 for Vnail . The required
(6) number of hooked nails (m) for one rectangular wire mesh is calculated
based on the transferred shear or tension forces of it, which are equal to
the shear or tension capacity (max. value obtained from Eqs. (3) and
(4)) of the selected rectangular wire mesh with determined sizes.
An illustrated design guideline is presented in Fig. 20a and the ex-
ample of using the proposed design method is demonstrated in Fig. 20b
for repaired infill specimen. It should be noted that the calculation is

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M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

Fig. 12. (a) Installation of crimped wire mesh (b) anchored wire mesh with hooked nails (c) Fastening nail and wire mesh with thin wire knot (d) final step of cement
plaster coating on the wall with stitched crack.

proposed only for one direction of the lateral loading, and in opposite
direction of lateral loading symmetrical detail of repair practise would
be considered. Fig. 20a demonstrates all the requirements of the pro-
posed repair method, such as the recommended development length of
the rods of the wire meshes and the sizes of the corners and centre wire
meshes.
A design summary of the repaired infill specimen is shown in
Table 4. In the first step of the design procedure, the crack length is
calculated in row 1 of Table 4. The considered length of the crack is
depicted in Fig. 20b in green. Regarding Fig. 20b, three rectangular
shape wire meshes (14×35 cm2) are used on the front side of the
specimen and three on the rear side, so six are used in total and each
includes 7 rods perpendicular to the crack path. Accordingly, 42 rods
provide resistance along the crack length. In total, the limit states of
Eqs. (5) and (6) are controlled in rows 2–3 of Table 4. It is worthwhile
to mention that the arrangement of used rectangular wire mesh is

Fig. 13. Experimental evidence of repaired infill specimen: (a) appearance of vertical crack close to corner area, (b) wire mesh buckling and concrete crushing, (c)
damage pattern of infill, (d) large deformation of seat angle connection.

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300 (a) Repaired infill specimen 3500

Stiffness of specimens in
200 3000 positive direction of loading

Stiffness (kN/mm)
2500 Infill specimen
Applied load (kN)

100
2000 Repaired infill specimen
0
1500
-100 1000

-200 500

0
-300
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Storey drift angle (%) Load steps
300 (b) Hystersis response of specimens 4000 Stiffness of specimens in
200 3500 negative direction of loading

Stiffness (kN/mm)
3000
100
Infill specimen
Applied load (kN)

2500
Repaired infill specimen
0 2000
1500
-100
1000
Repaired infill specimen
-200 500
Infill specimen
Bare frame specimen 0
-300 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Storey drift angle (%)
Load steps
Fig. 16. Comparison of stiffness in negative and positive directions of loading.
Fig. 14. Hysteresis response of (a) Repaired infill specimen (b) all specimens.

300
Push curves of specimens
80000 Dissipated energy of specimens
200
70000
Infill specimen
Dissipated energy (J)
Applied load (kN)

100
60000 Repaired infill specimen
0 50000
-100 40000
Bare Frame specimen
-200 30000
Infill specimen
Repaired infill specimen 20000
-300
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 10000
Storey drift angle (%) 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819
Fig. 15. Push curves of all specimens’ seismic behaviour.
Load steps

depended on the length of crack, thus in the case of asymmetric crack Fig. 17. Comparison of dissipated energy.
formation of the repaired infill specimen, two rectangular shape wire
meshes are assigned in the longer crack of the right hand side from wall
centre of Fig. 20b and one is assigned the in the left hand side from wall 20000 Repaied infill specimen
centre of Fig. 20b. Indeed, the required number of rods of wire mesh is Infill specimen
Bare frame specimen
calculated and arranged per unit of crack length. Meanwhile, each nail 15000
has 9.2 kN shear strength, with AIII [70] steel rebar material and a
10000
Measured shear microstrain

diameter of 7 mm based on the calculation of row 4 of Table 4. The

shear and tension capacity of each rectangular shape wire mesh 5000
(14×35 cm2) with seven rods are calculated in rows 5–6 of Table 4.
Only two hooked nails should be driven into the wire mesh cells, and it 0
is recommended to drive them in near the ends of the rectangles of the
-5000
wire mesh. However, in the repaired infill specimen at least 4 nails were
conservatively driven in at the corners of the rectangular shape wire -10000
meshes.
-15000

5.2. Verifying design results with experimental evidence -20000

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
The considered load transferring mechanism for the design metho- Storey drift angle (%)
dology was in good agreement with the experimental evidence. With
regard to Fig. 15, the strength of the infill specimen reduces from Fig. 18. Measured shear strain of column web during the test.

676
M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

12 effectively offer the details for repair of damaged infills in steel frames
(LVDT N O. 3) based on the shear and tensile capacity of cracks in situ, by contrast
Beam's mid-span deflection (mm)
10 with more time-consuming and complex methods, which need as-built
drawings and post-process analyses.
8
6. Summary and conclusion
6
This study first reviews state of the art typology, construction detail,
4
repair and retrofitting methods of masonry structures, then experi-
Bare frame specimen mentally discusses the role of infill in a simple steel frame and develops
2
Repaired infill specimen a method for repairing the moderately damaged masonry infill caused
0 Infill specimen by past earthquakes. The stages of the repair method are stitching the
0 1 2 3 4 cracks with crimped wire mesh in the shape of a Band-Aid and sub-
sequent cement plastering of the wall. Meanwhile, some hooked nails
Storey drift angle (%)
are used to fix the wire mesh to the wall as a second fuse of anchorage.
Fig. 19. Upwards displacement of mid-span of beam based on LVDT No.3. This method is developed as a contribution to disaster management
strategies to provide efficient help to victims of earthquakes, and simply
prepare temporary accommodation for them before any governmental
comprehensive program of retrofitting is implemented.
a The proposed method can rapidly restore the strength of damaged
infills against aftershocks if the accelerated cements or accelerated
curing methods [72,73] are used to achieve full designed strength of
Max (0.175 A, 0.175 H) cementitious plaster in short time. For instance, using Portland cement-
based composites by steam curing method can increase the strength of
concrete to about 70% of the ultimate strength in one day [74,75].
H (1500 mm)

Max (0.125 A, 0.125 H) However, using mineral mortars needs 28 days to reach the considered
Number of rods design strength and the proposed method is appropriate for normal-
perpendicular to time repair of masonry structures. Finally, practical design metho-
cr ack path
dology of the proposed repair method was presented.
Some important conclusions are as follows:
Length = 110
(diameter of rods) 1- Brick masonry infill could considerably enhance the structural per-
A (2000 mm) formance of steel frames with simple connections. Experimental
research on one bay specimen indicated that the initial stiffness
b 2470%, ultimate strength, and dissipated energy would be con-
siderably increased by using infill (Fig. 11b). This upgraded per-
formance was possible because the infill is confined by the sur-
rounding steel frame, which in turn is strengthened by the infill
36 cm
26 cm because of the imposed shear-resistant behaviour.
2- The experimental study showed that the proposed repair method
36 cm

could restore the structural performance of damaged infill in a stable

26 cm
Fig. 20. (a) Illustrated design guidelines for proposed repair method (b) con-
struction detail of repaired infill specimen.
180 kN to 110 kN in the negative direction and it seems that 70 kN force
is lost as a lateral resistant load, or 70/cos45 = 100 kN force as a di-
agonal resistant load of the infill. It should be noted that the inclination
of diagonal crack propagation should be considered as 45 degrees by
ignoring the aspect ratio of the specimen, because it was observed in
the experiment that cracks propagated at a 45 degree inclination. If the
lost diagonal strength of the experimental result is considered to be
100 kN, the shear strength calculated based on Eq. (1) with the com-
plete length of the diagonal crack, i.e.
0.17 × 6.7 × 100 × 2500 = 110 kN , will be validated approximately.
Furthermore, the behaviour of the repaired infill specimen according to
Fig. 15 confirmed that the lost strength of the infill specimen is com-
pletely recovered, such as the positive direction behaviour of infill that
was mentioned, by the load transferring system of the presented design
methodology. Although the presented method is conservative, it can
manner under cyclic reversal loading. Indeed, the stiffness, initial
strength and ultimate strength of the damaged infill were com-
pletely restored compared with the intact infill. Both the infill and
repaired infill specimens tolerated 240 kN, 255 kN ultimate lateral
load in the positive direction of loading and 110 kN and 215 kN in
the negative direction of loading, respectively (Fig. 15). So, the re-
pair method multiplies the ultimate strength of the reference spe-
cimen by 215/110=1.95 in negative direction of loading. More-
over, the developed repair method not only completely recovered
the energy dissipation of the damaged infill but also repaired its
unfavorable asymmetric cyclic behavior.
3- The failure mode of diagonal tension crack formation was changed
to corner crushing through the use of the developed method for
repairing the infill and it is indicated that the repaired infill would
behave as a rigid plate under lateral load (Figs. 9, 10 and 13).
4- The square crimped wire meshes installed in the corners and centre
of the infill play a significant role as a resistant element of the re-
paired system and should be constructed precisely, because the
dominant failure mode of the repaired infill was bottom corner
crushing of the infill.
5- A significant aspect of using the proposed repair method was am-
plifying the shear-resistant action of the columns, as confirmed by
the increase of the shear microstrain from 11,521 (infill specimen)
to 16,850 (repaired infill specimen) during tests (Fig. 18). This
growth by 146% in the shear load transferring of the columns

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M.S. Ghobadi et al. Engineering Structures 178 (2019) 665–679

Table 4
Summary of the proposed design procedure for crack stitching of repaired infill specimen (units: SI).
Step Description Calculation

1 Calculating length of diagonal crack outside of the square shape wire meshes of corners and 2000 2 + 1500 2
2 × 260 + 360
1250 mm
centre (Fig. 20b), L cos45

2 Controlling shear limit state of Eq. (5), Vm < Vcwm × 32

0.17 × 6.7 × 100 × 1250 = 55 kN < 0.6 × 315 × × 42 = 56 kN,OK
4
3 Controlling tension limit state of Eq. (6), Tm < Tcwm × 32
0.1 × 6.7 × 100 × 1250 = 83.7 kN < 0.9 × 315 × × 42 = 84 kN,OK
4
4 Calculating the shear force of hooked nail of Eq. (7), Vnail × 72
0.6 × 400 × = 9.2 kN
4
5 Calculating the shear capacity of one considered rectangular wire mesh with size of × 32
0.6 × 315 × × 7 = 9.35 kN
14 × 35 cm2 of Eq. (3), Vcwm 4

6 Calculating the tension capacity of one considered rectangular shape wire mesh with size of × 32
0.9 × 315 × × 7 = 14.02 kN
14 × 35 cm2 of Eq. (4), Tcwm 4

7 Calculating the number of hooked nails per one wire mesh, m max(9.35, 14.02)
= 1.52
9.2

fm' = 6.7 Mpa , FYrod = 315 MPa , FYnail = 400 MPa , diameter of rod = 3 mm, diameter of nail = 7 mm, t = 100 mm

provided greater energy dissipation and ductility, which was ex-
perimentally observed in the repaired infill specimen by removing
the unfavorable asymmetric behaviour of the infill specimen.
Some recommendations for the future investigations are presenting
as follows:
1- Repair and strengthening of damaged masonry structures by cov-
ering the whole of wall with crimped wire mesh and cementitious
plasters.
2- Comparison of crimped wire meshes and simple wire meshes or
ferrocement meshes in proposed repair technique.
3- Effects of using high performance mortars instead of cementitious
plasters on proposed repair technique.
4- Evaluation of using X-shaped crimped wire mesh like a X-bracing in
the proposed repair technique.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to express their heartfelt appreciation to all
staff of Structural Engineering Research Centre at International Institute
of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES).
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