Experimental proof of the effectiveness of timber panels in the seismic retrofit of URM buildings

Abstract

Recently there has been a growing interest by both academia and the industry in the possibility of using timber as a strengthening material for the seismic retrofit of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. This possibility was made genuine by the increased availability of new engineered wood products and connection systems which enable effective interaction between timber and masonry, as proved by the first preliminary numerical studies reported in the literature. Therefore, obtaining reliable experimental validation becomes the next step to turning the possibility into reality. This paper summarizes the experimental evidence collected over the last five years by the research team at the University of Trento, Italy. The focus is given to solutions that use timber panels connected to the masonry walls with spread fasteners. The testing activity reported herein addresses all components of the strengthening system at different scales: from small-scale timber-to-masonry connections up to full-scale walls tested onsite in a century-old building.