Seismic Rehabilitation of a Full-Scale RC Structure using GFRP Laminates

Synopsis: The SPEAR (Seismic PErformance Assessment and Rehabilitation) research Project is specifically targeted at existing under-designed structures and, in its framework, the core of the experimental activity is the series of full-scale pseudodynamic tests on a torsionally unbalanced three-storey RC structure, carried out at the ELSA Laboratory of the Joint Research Centre. As one of the main goals of the project is to pursue a better understanding of the potential of seismic rehabilitation methods, the experimental activity of the SPEAR project has foreseen pseudo-dynamic tests both on the ‘as-built’ and the FRP-retrofitted full-scale structure. In the paper, the strategy of the retrofitting intervention, consisting in the application of glass fiber wrapping, is described and the performance of the specimen in the two different configurations during the PsD tests is described. Through the experimental data, the effectiveness of the retrofitting strategy is thus assessed.