Fiber reinforced polymer

[RivennHewn]

New to me product was spec’d on a job.

We cut holes in some brick masonry unit walls, and the engineer wanted to add back some shear strength.

The walls were only reinforced with K wire.

It was a combination of fiberglass and Kevlar overlay in epoxy.

Not the prettiest stuff.

The special inspector watched the whole process, then did pull tests.

Spec’d pull PSI was 100. We pulled 200+, and had substrate failure prior to the polymer failing.

Interesting stuff, but not sure it’s worth the expense, as the rest of the building would still fail in “the big one”

Anyone have any experience?

 

[wssix99]

This stuff started being used in the 90's to reinforce and retrofit bridges. https://www.structuremag.org/?p=8643

I don't know of any specific examples where this has been tested by large earthquakes. (Maybe in Japan?) There is certainly a lot of this material installed, waiting for the next big one in the US.

 

[LopezBart]

Here's an article on inspection of structures post-earthquake: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/87552930211028609
The section entitled "Discussion of observations in reference to existing literature" has references to other papers on this...

 

[Bill T]

We used at nuclear stations to reinforce Block walls.

 

[Zeke]

Looks interesting.

 

[BombShelter]

I've used Fortress Carbon Fiber Straps on several moving wall projects, it looks similar except Fortress Straps show up rigid, they can be rolled for shipping but big steps in the wall would be an issue. The Fortress looks much nicer when finished.

Concrete Reinforcement Products | Fortress Stabilization Systems

Innovative composite solutions for the reinforcement of concrete structures, The strongest and most reliable concrete reinforcement products on the market.

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I love those old lab style walls, too bad it had to get drilled.