Numerical Modelling for Assessing the Structural Efficiency of CAM® Reinforcement System for Masonry Walls

A large portion of the Italian building heritage is made of masonry construc-tions, which were erected in the first decades of the last century and were conceived to support gravitational loads only. Many research activities have been carried out in order to propose retrofitting techniques aimed at improving seismic behaviour of existing ma-sonry buildings. The present paper focuses on the CAM® reinforcing system. Such a retrofitting technique, which is widely used in Italy, consists in the application of pre-tensioned stainless steel ribbons on existing masonry walls, conferring to them addi-tional strength, ductility and beneficial confinement effects. The preliminary outcomes of a common research activity developed in cooperation between the University of Cam-pania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, the University of Palermo, the University of Messina and the EDILCAM® Sistemi Srl, aimed at setting up appropriate design criteria, are provided in this paper. In particular, the calibration procedure of a specific FEM numerical model developed by Abaqus is presented, which then has been applied to interpret the cyclic response of unreinforced and reinforced masonry walls previously tested in within the research project In.CAM.M.I.N.O.