2024-11-272024-11-272024Rodríguez-Mayorga, E., Fernández Ancio, F. y Hortigón Fuentes, B. (2024). Optimisation of steel bars to repair and reinforce masonries. Journal of Building Engineering, 98, 111300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2024.111300.2352-7102https://hdl.handle.net/11441/165043The insertion of rebars in masonry is a well-established repair and reinforcing technique. To this end, standard thin rebars are usually employed. In this research, the standard Spanish shape for the stainless-steel wires and rebars is optimised, from the bonding point of view, to work while both highly confined and thinly covered by mortar, thereby reproducing the conditions of rebars between masonry units. A detailed finite-element analysis is employed to choose the best-performing model from of a set of possible designs of 5-mm diameter rebars. The standard shape is set as the starting point for the design of these rebars. In the analyses, the influence of the shape of the ribs, the orientation of the ribs, and the spacing between the ribs on bonding is assessed by finite-element analysis. Finally, a prototype of the best-performing design is manufactured and tested in the laboratory. In order to reproduce more accurately the boundary conditions of rebars once inserted into ma sonries, the standard pull-out test has been adapted with certain modifications expressly designed for this research. The comparison of results with those attained by the standard rebar confirms the improvement achieved by the new design.application/pdf15 p.engMasonry repairMasonry reinforcementStainless-steel rebarRebar shapeOptimisationFinite-element analysisMicroplane modelLaboratory testsPull-out testMetal additive manufacturinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess10.1016/j.jobe.2024.111300