Strengthening a Historical Building with Carbon Fiber Bands

Abstract

In general, horizontal stresses that occur during earthquakes cause cracks in masonry walls. In old buildings, usually wooden or iron beams were used as tension members. These beams rotted on the walls of many old buildings examined and lost their tensile properties. This may be riskier, especially where there is more atmospheric pollution, and the increase in this pollution in the next centuries may result in these beams lasting 100 years or less instead of about 300 years. In this study, an exemplary historical building is modeled and analyzed in the SAP2000 program using finite element method, and a mixed system in which carbon fiber bands and carbon fiber meshes are used together is proposed to strengthen the masonry walls. Thus, we can say that these pull elements added to the structure are a system that acts as a stirrup that prevents the masonry walls from opening laterally.