A study examined the ductility and toughness properties of beams made of reinforced concrete, including foamed, normal, and hybrid beams. Nine reinforced concrete beams were produced: three foamed concrete beams, three normal concrete beams, and three hybrid concrete beams. Each beam possessed identical rectangular cross-sectional dimensions of 1500 mm × 250 mm × 150 mm. The flexural parameters (ultimate load, ductility, deflection, and durability) were assessed for each type of concrete utilized. The study's results showed that the load-bearing capacity of hybrid concrete beams was comparable to that of normal concrete beams, whereas foamed concrete beams exhibited slight improvement in their ability to carry loads. The ductility of reinforced foamed concrete beams was lesser than that of normal concrete. For over-reinforced beams, the ductility of hybrid concrete beams showed a significant improvement of 61% compared to foamed beams and an even more significant increase of 91.7% compared to normal beams. Furthermore, the hybrid concrete beam with over-reinforcement had a flexural toughness of 18.7% greater than the normal concrete beam. Suggested that a hybrid section comprising conventional and foamed concrete be utilized to decrease ductility and improve stiffness.
The use of externally bonded composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) sheets is a modern and convenient way for strengthening and repairing reinforced concrete (RC) beams. This study presents experimental investigations on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams strengthened by unsymmetrical CFRP sheets with various configurations. Effects of number of which strengthened faces of strengthening and fiber direction on the flexural strength of RC beams are examined. Six RC beams with dimensions of 100 mm * 220 mm were casted and tested under two points loading. One beam considered as a reference (unstrengthened) beam. Five residual beams were strengthened using CFRP sheets with various configurations. From the results, it was observed that all strengthened beams showed higher ultimate load capacity than that of the control beam. On the other hand, it was found that a progressive reduction in flexural ductility and toughness of beams with strengthening in one face and two faces with horizontal fiber direction. The highest decrease in flexural ductility and toughness for strengthened beams with horizontal fiber direction in comparison to control beam were 63% and 54%, respectively. On the contrary, the flexural ductility and toughness of strengthened beams increased with strengthening by vertical fiber direction. Additionally, the maximum percentage of increase in flexural ductility and toughness were 41% and 54%, respectively in comparison with control beam.
In this study, eight rectangular reinforced concrete beams strengthened by bottom steel plates firmly interconnected to them by headed-stud shear connectors are manufactured using self compacting concrete and tested up to failure under two point loads to demonstrate the effect of steel-plate thicknesses, lengths, and the shear-connector distributions on the behavior, ductility and strength of this type of beams. A trial mix conforming to the EFNARC Constraints had been successfully carried out to satisfy the three fresh tests of SCC, these tests are flowability, passing ability and segregation resistance. The results show that there is a substantial improvement in the flexural resistance, increasing the flexural stiffness and decreasing the ductility ratio due to thickening steel plate, On contrary, increasing the spacing between shear connectors to 50% had slight effect on the flexural resistance, but subsequent increase of their spacing to 100% had seriously lowered that resistance, The spacing between shear connectors has a primary effect on the average flexural stiffness and ductility ratio. In regard to the steel plate length, its shortening has reduced the flexural resistance significantly, decreased the average flexural stiffness and had increased the ductility ratio. The experimentally determined ultimate flexural strength had been compared with its corresponding one computed by the "Strength Method" using ACI requirements where high agreement gained between them due to the nearly perfect interaction provided by SCC. The eight composite beams had also been analyzed by the non-linear three dimensional Finite Element Analysis employing ANSYS program (release 12.1),where high agreement is achieved compared with experimental results.
Composite beams, made up of a concrete slab and steel in the IPE steel section, are commonly used in bridges and buildings. Their main function is to enhance structural efficiency by merging the compressive strength of concrete with the tensile resistance of steel, thereby improving overall stiffness, ductility, and load-bearing capacity. This study offers an extensive review of the flexural behavior of steel-concrete composite beams, focusing on the interplay of concrete strength, shear connector types, and interaction levels in determining structural performance. It integrates experimental and numerical research to analyze critical parameters, including load-deflection behavior, shear transfer efficiency, and crack propagation at the steel-concrete interface. The study emphasizes the effect of concrete compressive strength, particularly in ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) and lightweight concrete, on stiffness, ductility, and load-bearing capacity while reducing self-weight and enhancing sustainability. The study revealed that fully bonded shear connectors, using CFRP sheets and welded plates, enhance flexural capacity and stiffness. In contrast, partial bonding or pre-debonding reduces performance due to crack propagation. Indented and hot-rolled U-section connectors enhance interaction and minimize slip, while uniform distribution of shear connectors optimizes load capacity and stiffness. Lightweight concrete decreases slab weight without compromising performance, and high-performance materials such as ECC, SFRC, and UHPFRC improve strength and ductility. Numerical modeling, particularly finite element methods, and higher-order beam theories validate experimental results, providing accurate tools for predicting structural behavior under various loading and environmental conditions.
To preserve the natural materials, applying the principles of sustainable engineering, to approach the principle of zero waste and to contribute the solution of the negative environmental impact of two decades, which is caused by excessive use of bottles of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in packaging, has led to the approach of alternative, clean and innovative technologies aimed at recycling and reuse to address this environmental problem. Proposed re-use empty bottles as a way to get rid of them and benefit from them at the same time the way, this method through which the empty bottles cutting into fibres using these fibres made of PET to improve the properties of concrete. Percentage of fiber that has been used are 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%. Suitable tests were performed to measure properties of concrete reinforcement by recycle PET fibre such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, four-point bending strength, modulus of elasticity and toughness index. Flexural toughness tests were performed to measure the ductility capacities of reinforced concrete members with recycled PET fibre reinforced concrete. The results obtained indicate Toughness index was enhanced by using PET fibre reinforced concrete specimens, compared to no ductility performance of concrete specimens without fibre reinforcement. A significant change in ductility was when observed PET used fibre with 3%.
This research include the study of flexural behavior of polymer modified concrete beams containing waste plastic fiber (WPF). Fifteen reinforced concrete beams are moulded of (100*150*1300) mm dimension with different steel reinforcement ratio (ρ). These steel reinforcement ratio were (0.0038, 0.0207 & 0.0262). Styrene Butadine Rubber (SBR) was added as cement replacement by weight equal to (5%). Reinforced concrete beams classified in to five groups, each contains three beams with different (ρ) value. The first group conducted of reference concrete mix , the second group made with SBR modified concrete, while the three remaining groups were make by PMC containing (WPF) with volumetric ratio equal to (0.75, 1.25 & 1.75)%. This study includes compressive and flexural tests for concrete which was used in this research, load deflection relationships, the moment at mid-span with deflection and ductility were established. The results prove that, polymer modified concrete wich content waste plastic fiber has compressive and flexural strengths more than reference mixes as well as the PMC beams wich content waste plastic fiber have a stiffer response in terms of structural behaviour, more ductility and lower cracking deflection than those made by reference concretes and that refer to good role of styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) polymer and plastic fiber on the properties and behaviour of reinforced concrete beams.
Slurry infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON) is a relatively new high performance material and can be considered a special type of fiber concrete (FRC) with high fiber content. The matrix consists of a flowing mortar or cement slurry that must penetrate well through the network of fibers placed in the mold. SIFCON has excellent mechanical properties combined with high ductility and toughness values. SIFCON a relatively new material, is composed of mud (cement or cement and sand), water, a plasticizer (water reducer), and fibers. All previous studies have used waste steel fibers, steel fibers and other fibers, but in this study, plastic fibers were made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by cutting carbonated beverage bottles. The main objectives of this study are: Determination the effect of the waste plastic fiber volume ratio on the strength and deformation of (SIFCON) samples under the influence of bending loads. Both flexural strength and toughness properties were determined by testing samples (100×100×400) mm at 28 and 56 days of age. The results obtained from these tests were compared with those performed on conventional tests. Aspect Ratio equal to (36.8) and three volume ratios (3%, 5% and 7%) of the total volume of the concrete mixture were used to add fibers with different volume ratios. A conventional concrete mix was created as a reference for comparison. Bending strength and fresh concrete tests were performed. And compared with the reference mixture and according to the analysis of the results. The results showed an improvement in bending strength .It was found through the flexural examination that the flexural strength of the mixture containing fiber percentage (7%) achieved the highest strength compared to the rest of the ratios used, compared with the reference mixture (Ref.) by (32.25, 27.5)% for ages (28, 56), respectively.
The most concerning issue confronting the planet these days is the ascent in Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to record levels. The cement industries are answerable to between 6-8 % of worldwide CO2 emitting. In construction sectors, researchers tried to contribute in decreasing of CO2 in atmosphere produced by industry and using that was released in air. Accelerated CO2 curing is one of the methods used to get benefit from CO2 in the air. In this paper, CO2 concentration in addition to pressure, relative humidity and period of curing all had a significant influence upon the features of Cement – Based Composites. Results showed that using CO2 curing with different and specific properties of fibers (types, quantities, circumstances and lengths) improved the most mechanical properties and enhanced durability such as: strength, stiffness, ductility, toughness, porosity, and absorption.