Seismolock GRC Restrengthening System

Many Unreinforced Masonary (URM) buildings have insufficient capacity to endure even a moderate earthquake but the concerns of heritage preservation makes demolition of these historic URM buildings undesirable, which results in seismic retrofit being necessary. Inturn, older URM brick and masonry buildings now must be structurally upgraded or face an early retirement at the hands of the demolition contractors. Other buildings, such as those damaged by earthquakes need to be strengthened as part of their reinstatement to safe habitable buildings. The SEISMOLOCK GRC Strengthening System offers a simple and economical alternative to traditional strengthening methods. The SEISMOLOCK GRC System utilises a proprietary polypropylene fibre reinforced highly modified and engineered plaster, combined with and a high-tensile strength fibreglass mesh to provide a thin section plaster that will strengthen existing URM brick and masonry walls to resist earthquake loads. The SEISMOLOCK GRC Plaster is formulated to provide an excellent bond to the surface of a prepared masonry wall while the embedded layers of fibreglass mesh provide the tensile strength to resist in-plane shear loads and face loads. Proven Technology GRC – Seismolock’s Glass Reinforced Cement, a key proprietary ingredient that provides elasticity while still having high yield stress under seismic loads. Seismolock improves ductility to structural members, lessening the chance of the building collapsing, a key factor in reducing fatalities from falling debris. The mesh is manufactured with a special alkali-resistant fiberglass which has an additional protective coating. This is to limit the effects of embrittlement therefore retains its initial mechanical properties over the longterm.