Experimental Studies on Reinforced Concrete and Ferrocement Beams

Abstract

Arch structures have been utilized through the ages, beginning in the ancient civilizations of Greece, Egypt and Rome, to present day with their common use in bridges. Arches are well known for the ability to carry loads spanning large areas. Also now a day’s Ferrocement is being used extensively for various applications where use of normal concrete is hard to fulfil the present day requirements. In this paper experimental studies are carried out to understand the flexural behaviour of Reinforced concrete beams of grade M20 with HYSD reinforcement and Ferrocement hollow beams of cement to sand ratio of 1:3 and water cement ratio of 0.4. A total of four beams were  cast in which two are straight beams and another two are arched beams. In that two straight beam, one is reinforced concrete beam with minimum reinforcement and another one is Ferrocement hollow beam and in two arch beams, one is reinforced concrete beam and other is Ferrocement hollow beam. All beams are rectangular in cross-section of size 200 x 200 mm and the span length is 2500 mm. The arch beam is provided with a rise at centre of 0.8 m. The Ferrocement beam is made of mortar with hollow cross section using hexagonal wire mesh with thickness of 40 mm and all the specimens are cured for 28 days. Flexural tests are carried out on conventional RC beam and Ferrocement hollow beams for simply supported condition. The test results are presented in terms of load deflection behaviour, ultimate load, cracking load and crack pattern with respect to reinforced concrete beam and Ferrocement hollow beam.