EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON RETROFITTING OF URM HOUSES USING FERROCEMENT LAYERS WITH A BANDAGE SYSTEM

Abstract

The 2022 West Pasaman earthquake in Indonesia caused significant damage, particularly to Unreinforced Masonry (URM) houses. Generally, most URM houses in West Pasaman are constructed without essential structural components, such as columns and beams. Consequently, these houses lack resilience against earthquake loads due to the absence of proper load distribution from the roof to the base of the building. To prevent severe damage to URM houses during future earthquakes, an experimental study was conducted on retrofitting damaged URM houses. The proposed retrofitting method involves applying ferrocement layers with a bandage system. This study aims to investigate the seismic performance of URM houses reinforced with these ferrocement layers. The specimen was built at a 1:4 scale of the original house in West Pasaman. The experimental work was carried out in two phases: the first test was conducted on the Original House (OH) specimen, which was subsequently repaired and retrofitted with ferrocement layers. The second test was then conducted on the Retrofitted House (RH) specimen. The model specimen underwent shaking table tests under varying earthquake accelerations (input motions) of 0.3 g, 0.6 g, 1.0 g, and 1.5 g. The results showed that Specimen RH successfully withstood the earthquake loads. Incorporating woven wire within the plaster mortar layer markedly enhanced the seismic resistance of the URM house due to the ductile properties of the woven wire, which prevented the house from collapsing even at an earthquake acceleration of 1.5 g.