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…