Retrofitting of R/C shear walls by means of high performance jackets

A new technique for the strengthening of existing R/C shear walls based on the application of thin high performance jackets is presented in this paper. The strengthening jacket is made of high performance concrete, having a compression resistance higher than 150 MPa, and reinforced by means of an high strength steel mesh. The experimental study is carried out on a 1:3 scale R/C wall, proportioned to resist vertical loads only, and reinforced by means of a 15 mm thick high performance jacket. Cyclic loads of increasing magnitude are applied to the experimental shear wall up to collapse. The effectiveness of the technique is also verified numerically. The results show the efficiency of the proposed solution in significantly increasing the structure resistance, deformation capacity and ductility. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.