Confined masonry (CM) consists of unreinforced masonry walls confined with reinforced concrete tie columns and beams. Due to satisfactory performance during past earthquakes, CM has become the predominant construction style in several developing countries. However, poor construction practices and substandard materials may result in inadequate performance. This paper evaluates the feasibility and efficiency of an affordable and practical retrofit technology designed for CM constructions in developing areas. Corrosion-resistant aluminum strips are inserted into grooves and embedded in mortar along bed joints to enhance the in-plane shear resistance and deformability. Experimental evidence was obtained through in-plane cyclic load tests on full-scale CM walls. It is shown that a substandard CM wall can be transformed into a wall with acceptable strength and deformability, and the in-plane shear strength of a retrofitted wall can be estimated by means of a simple analytical model that accounts for the contribution of the horizontal reinforcement.
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