Abstract
Attempts are being made to utilize Reinforced Baked Clay (RBC) as a substitute of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) for construction of low cost houses in plains of Pakistan. Since baked clay is considered to be more brittle as compared to concrete. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate how deflection and crack width of RBC beams subjected to impact loading are governed by amount of reinforcement. This paper presents the behaviour of RBC beams under drop weight impact loading. The beams were reinforced with two steel bars, one in compression zone and the other in tension zone. In group A beams, the diameter of steel bars was 12.7 mm, while the beams of group B were reinforced with steel bars of 15.8 mm diameter. The RBC beams were subjected to repeated impacts of a hammer of mass 21 kg falling from a height of 1000 mm. The results show that 1) three times reduction in deflection, and 2) 2.5 times decrease in crack width, were achieved in RBC beams by increasing the area of steel to 50%. In addition to this, all the RBC beams failed within nine blows of the hammer, irrespective of area of reinforcement.
Highlights
Due to high cost of cement, and aggregates in plains of Pakistan, attempts are being made to search for other indigenous and low cost materials of building construction
This paper presents the behaviour of Reinforced Baked Clay (RBC) beams under drop weight impact loading
The results show that 1) three times reduction in deflection, and 2) 2.5 times decrease in crack width, were achieved in RBC beams by increasing the area of steel to 50%
Summary
Due to high cost of cement, and aggregates in plains of Pakistan, attempts are being made to search for other indigenous and low cost materials of building construction. In this regard, baked clay is considered to be a potential material for construction of low cost houses. Research has been carried out on flexural behaviour of laboratory size Reinforced Baked Clay (RBC) beams. The studies suggest that the load carrying capacity of RBC beams is comparable to that of RCC. A structure would normally resist a static load, but if the load of same magnitude is applied as an impact load, it could cause comparatively more damage to it
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call