Flexural out-of-plane retroftting technique for masonry walls in historical constructions

The paper presents a recent technology for the out- of-plane flexural strengthening of historic masonry walls. The method is based on t he forming of an irregular net following the joint texture of the wall, which would be able to work in tension. The applied net can be hidden by repointing the joints. This way the techn ology does not cause visual alteration to walls without rendering, respecting their authentic ity. An ongoing research in Portugal is aiming to increase the workability and efficiency o f the technique by developing a new anchor element for the application of the net. The discuss ion includes the introduction of the method and partial results of the research from the Univer sity of Minho, Portugal.