Effect of transversal steel connectors on the behavior of rubble stone-masonry walls: Two case studies in Italy

This chapter describes the reinforcement technique and its fields of application and expected benefits. It addresses two case studies where this reinforcing method has been recently applied: the medieval castle of Laurenzana, located in the southern Italian region of Basilicata and a coeval 18th-century annex building nearby the Royal Palace of Capodimonte. The steel-bar connector is inserted into a pre-drilled hole made in the masonry in order to bond the masonry leaves and to prevent the detachment during seismic events; finally cement-based grout is injected at high pressure inside the fabric bag-case. Multiple leaf masonry walls have been often used in historical constructions and were built using two or three leaves made of different materials such as stone, rubble or brick masonry having little or no connection and possible voids between them sometimes filled with mortar and rough stones' pieces.