Flexural characteristics of lightweight ferrocement beams with various types of core materials and mesh reinforcement

Sixteen reinforced concrete beams having the cross-sectional dimensions of 100 × 200 × 2000 mm and clear span of 1800 mm were cast and tested until failure under a single mid-span concentrated load. Ferrocement beams in this research contained either an Autoclaved Aerated lightweight brick Core (AAC), Extruded Foam Core (EFC), or a Lightweight Concrete Core (LWC); and were reinforced with either Expanded Metal Mesh (EMM), Welded Wire Mesh (WWM) or Fibre Glass Mesh (FGM). Structural behaviour of studied beams, including first crack, ultimate load, deflection, ductility index, strain characteristics, crack pattern and failure mode were investigated. Experimental work results showed that ferrocement beams exhibited higher ductility indices than those of the control normal and lightweight test beams to different degrees. Ferrocement beams made of EFC core generally gave the lowest ductility index while the highest ductility index was found for beams made of AAC and LWC cores. Ferrocement beams demonstrated better crack control and did not undergo spalling as opposed to the conventional beams. Specimens reinforced by EMM showed better ductility than those reinforced by WWM and even after increasing the reinforcement ratio of WWM, the situation did not change. Specimens reinforced by FGM had the lowest ductility compared to specimens reinforced by steel mesh. Cracks were found to develop more rapidly in beams reinforced by EMM, while beams reinforced by FGM exhibited the least amount of cracks. The results of this research showed that ferrocement beams of light weight cores may be promising as an alternative to conventional beams and may be viable alternatives especially for low cost residential buildings.