Reinforcing Building Facades with Geotextile Fabrics

Abstract

An investigation is made of potential reinforcement to limit debris hazard of masonry facade walls of conventional buildings subjected to blast effects using geotextile fabrics anchored to the floor slabs and beams. Fourteen simulation tests using geotextile and geogrid fabrics were conducted to provide an initial evaluation of the performance of this protective system. The ultimate capacity, load-deflection, including the proposed connections of these retrofit systems were determined and recorded in these tests. The tests were conducted by increasing a uniform load (water pressure) in a