Mechanics of Masonry Structures Strengthened with Composite Materials

In the last years, great attention has been given to the preservation of cultural heritage, and different research areas investigated on restoration, conservation and strengthening of monumental ancient constructions. This has been great relevance especially in Italy, the country which holds the greatest cultural heritage in the world. In this context, the use of fiber-reinforced composites as strengthening materials of existing structures revealed to be an efficient, low cost and low impact technique, due to their advantages compared to the use of traditional materials. In the present work, the convent of San Bernardino, a historical construction which belongs to the cultural heritage of the territory of Cosenza, has been taken into consideration, and different strengthening techniques for some of its masonry arches and columns have been proposed. After a detailed cognitive analysis of the construction complex, its structural deficiencies and their reasons have been investigated. A low level of safety of the entire construction have been found, especially in columns and arches of cloister. Starting from this points, several reinforcement interventions, using glass fiber materials, have been designed, in accordance with recent Italian guidelines. In particular, the technique of continuous and discontinuous confinement of columns through the application of composite materials and the effectiveness of the insertion of fiber-reinforced bars as reinforcement of arches have been designed. The strengthening interventions proposed entailed a significant increase of masonry elements strength and improved the overall safety of the monumental complex.