Near surface mounted retrofitting of traditional adobe walls using steel rebars

This study focused on experimentally evaluating the lateral performance of traditional adobe walls retrofitted using near surface mounted (NSM) steel rebars. The experimental program comprised three adobe wall panels including a control, a repaired, and a strengthened specimen. All specimens were constructed to be identical, with a thickness of 200 mm, a length of 1020 mm, and an effective height of 700 mm. The loading was applied in the form of lateral loading reversals combined with a pre-compression axial load. The axial load was retained constant during lateral loading. The testing was designed to produce diagonal shear cracking in the as-built specimen; thus allowing to investigate the effectiveness of the adopted NSM scheme in controlling this unfavourable failure mode. Based on the experimental findings, the loading capacity, ultimate deformation, and displacement ductility of the wall specimens were improved after implementation of the strengthening scheme.