Sharif Digital Repository

Soils are usually weak in tension therefore different materials such as geosynthetics are used to address this inadequacy. Worldwide annual consumption of geosynthetics is close to 1000 million m2, and the value of these materials is probably close to US$1500 million. Since the total cost of the construction is at least four or five times the cost of the geosynthetic itself, the impact of these materials on civil engineering construction is very large indeed. Nevertheless, there are several significant problems associated with geosynthetics, such as creep, low modulus of elasticity, and susceptibility to aggressive environment. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) was introduced over two... 

This paper studies the results of compression diagonal tests conducted on a series of retrofitted and non-retrofitted small-scale masonry walls (which are also known as wallettes). Wallettes with the same characteristics and mechanical properties of large masonry walls were retrofitted by using two arrays of glass fiber reinforcement polymer (GFRP) sheets (grid and diagonal), two arrays of carbon fiber reinforcement polymer (CFRP) sheets (grid and diagonal), and near surface mounted bars (steel and GFRP). FRP sheets were applied to both surfaces of the wallettes, and rebar was mounted onto one of the surfaces in two horizontal and two vertical arrangements. All of the methods significantly...