External confinement of brick masonry columns with open-grid basalt reinforced mortar

A large portion of existing unreinforced masonry buildings in earthquake regions is in urgent need of retrofitting. Masonry brick columns are frequently used as load-bearing elements in such buildings. In this paper, the efficiency of historical masonry column confinement externally with open-grid basalt fiber reinforced mortar, as a strengthening method, is investigated experimentally. A total of 5 masonry column specimens are produced with solid bricks, which have been collected from a historical building constructed around the 1930s, and a local mortar with sub-standard mechanical characteristics to simulate existing historical mortar. The columns with 900 mm height and cross-sectional dimensions of 360 mm × 360 mm are constructed in running bond. All column specimens are tested under concentric compressive loads and the outcomes of the column tests are evaluated in terms of strength, deformability and failure characteristics. A comparison is also made between the experimental results and theoretical predictions made using available analytical models.