Brick and Block Masonry - From Historical to Sustainable Masonry

In historical masonry structures subjected to earthquakes frequently the out-of-plane partial or global col-lapse of some walls occurs, due to their limited flexural resistance. The application of Composite Rein-forced Mortars (mortar coating with composite meshes embedded) is an innovative, effective strengthening solution for increasing the out-of-plane capacities of masonry walls and also fit with the compatibility re-quirements for interventions on the construction heritage. A numerical study is presented in the paper, aimed at the prediction, through nonlinear static analysis, of the bending response of entire walls before and after the strengthening intervention. The influence of different parameters is investigated and the results, in terms of capacity curves, are compared. An evaluation in terms of resisting peak ground acceleration, based on the Capacity Spectrum Method with reference to the Floor Spectrum, is also presented, with application to a case study, so to allow the comparison with the seismic demand for practice design purposes.