In order to pursue sustainable objectives in the construction industry, a new composite material using vegetal fibre mesh coated with resin and embedded in mortar is developed and characterized. In this study, meshes of different types of vegetal fibres (flax, hemp, sisal, and cotton) coated with epoxy and polyester resins were manufactured. A mixture of meshes and mortar cast different fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) specimens, which were later subjected to direct tensile tests. The results showed an excellent interaction between the vegetal fibres and the mortar matrix. The coating with epoxy and polyester improved the mechanical properties of the yarns and apparently avoided the typical slipping failures in FRCM composites. Hemp and flax FRCM are the composites that reached the highest mechanical strength, whereas cotton FRCM had the greatest elongation capacity and multicracking response. In addition, an analytical model was proposed and validated by a comparison with the experimental results.

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Masonry is one of the eldest construction systems in the building industry, currently in use because some advantages like compressive capacity, traditional aesthetics, low cost and good practices. However, damages recorded in walls as a result of cyclic loads, have given rise to an important development in the area of strengthening and rehabilitation of this type of structural element. To counteract this problem, the vegetal FRCM arises as a strengthening competitive system for the improvement of the mechanical properties of masonry walls. In this study, an analytical model evaluates the behaviour of walls strengthened with FRCM. The model is compared with existing codes and it is validated with experimental results of shear diagonal-compression tests and shear under cyclic loads. It proved to be an effective calculation tool, useful enough to reproduce the behaviour of masonry walls strengthened with FRCM, but limited to failures not related with debonding neither sliding of FCRM material and substrate.

Fabric-reinforced cementitious matrices (FRCMs) are a novel composite material for strengthening structures. Fabric contributes to tying cross-sections under tensile stress. The complexity of the interfaces between the fabric and the matrix does not allow having a simple and accurate model that enables practitioners to perform feasible calculations. This work developed an analytical approach and a numerical simulation based on the reduction of FRCMs’ strength capabilities under tensile stress states. The concept of effective strength was estimated for different types of fabrics (basalt, carbon, glass, poly p-phenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO), and steel) from experimental evidence. The proposed models calculate the ultimate bending moment for reinforced concrete (RC) structures strengthened with FRCMs. The numerical models performed simulations that reproduced the moment–deflection curves of the different tested beams. Steel fabric showed the highest contribution to strength (78%), while PBO performed the worst (6%). Basalt and carbon showed irregular contributions.