Flexural behavior of Hybrid Ferrocement slabs with microconcrete and Fibers

International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.4 (May 2012) ISSN 2249-6149 Page 165 Flexural behavior of Hybrid Ferrocement slabs with microconcrete and Fibers S.Deepa Shri 1 R.Thenmozhi 2 1. Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Jansons Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. 2. Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore. Ph:+91 94433 14029 ___________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: This paper presents a study on the ductility performance of hybrid fiber reinforced Ferro cement slabs. The influence of fiber content, number of weld mesh layers, thickness of ferrocement slabs on the flexural behaviour was investigated. The parameters of investigation included modulus of rupture at ultimate load, service load, ultimate and service load deflection, crack width, moment curvature ., etc., A total of 8 series of 700 mm X 300 mm size slabs, were tested to study the above parameters. The specimens incorporated with 0.3% volume fraction of polypropylene fibers, and higher thickness and more no of weld mesh bundled improves the flexural behavior appreciably. Key words: fiber, ferrocement, ductility, micro concrete, deflection, moment, curvature. ___________________________________________________________________________ Corresponding Author: S.Deepa Shri 1 1. INTRODUCTION There is a growing interest in the development of thin walled cement composites for the production of structural components. In these composites, the reinforcing elements may be in the form of fabrics, meshes, and discrete fibers made of metal, mineral, polymeric and naturally occurring material. When the cement mortar matrix is reinforced of weld mesh with closely spaced layers, the resulting composite is more commonly known as ferrocement, and still more addition of modern material made this as a self compacting, more ductile and less cracking. This type of cement composites is the subject matter of study presented here. The present research investigation is intended to address three major concerns. The first is to explore the possibility of using selfcompacting micro concrete in ferrocement slabs, the second is to find an opportunity by discrete fibers with varying no of layers of weld mesh to enhance the performance of hybrid ferrocement slabs. The third is to examine the improvement in flexural capacity of hybrid ferrocement slab specimen. 2. Experimental programme: 2.1. Previous History: Investigations conducted in mid 1980’s deal only with variety of meshes. Different types of meshes were used in ferrocement applications.Most researchers chose to use much higher