Retrofitting of masonry building with reinforced masonry ring-beam

To improve the behavior of the connection between the roof and the masonry walls, reinforced concrete ring-beams were commonly used in these last years. This technique have proved to be effective, but, at the same time, the different properties of concrete and masonry require an adequate connection to the underlying masonry and the additional mass added on the top of the building may have negative effects when the building is subjected to seismic loading. To avoid such shortcomings a possible solution could be the use of masonry ring-beams reinforced with composites. After an analysis of the behavior of this new structural solution, the results of a first set of experimental tests will be presented and discussed. Finally, a first application of a FRP masonry ring-beam will be illustrated.