Abstract
The presence of a new opening will decrease the axial capacity, thus, requiring upgrading. Satisfactory results were found when FRP was placed in the vicinity of the openings, being capable to restore the initial structural capacity. However, despite the considerable research carried out, there are still important research gaps that need to be further investigated. In this paper an experimental program aimed to study the influence of opening size and the strengthening pattern for RC walls will be presented. To achieve this aim, a two-level factorial experiment has been designed resulting in a total of nine wall specimens.