Effectiveness of BFRP confinement on the compressive behaviour of clay brick masonry cylinders

This paper presents the results of an experimental and analytical study on the compressive behaviour of small clay brick masonry cylinders reinforced with a basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite. Fourteen cylinders, manufactured using two assembling schemes and confined using either one or two layers of BFRP grids, were tested under monotonic compression loading. Traditional strain measuring systems were integrated with digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The BFRP confined masonry cylinders showed a ductile behaviour characterised by a softening branch of the stress–strain curve. The experimental strains, strength, and full stress–strain curves were modelled using analytical models available in the literature. A modified version of the CNR model proposed in this study provided the best strength prediction.