Babadua reinforced concrete two-way slabs subjected to concentrated loading

This work investigated the flexural strength and deformation of 14 two-way concrete slabs that were reinforced in two directions with babadua (botanical: thalia geniculata) bars. The slabs were simply supported on all four sides and tested under a central concentrated load. Ten of the specimens were tested monotonically while the remaining four were subjected to cyclic loading prior to failure. The span-to-effective depth ratios of the slabs ranged from 13.2 to 26.2. Cracking loads of the reinforced concrete slabs averaged 42% of the failure loads predicted for the un-reinforced concrete sections. Experimental failure loads were found to average approximately 170% of the theoretically predicted values. Also the experimental failure loads averaged 148% and 198% of the theoretical punching shear strength of the un-reinforced concrete section under monotonic and cyclic loads, respectively. The slabs exhibited high stiffness against deformation prior to collapse through crushing of concrete.