Structural performance of ribbed ferrocement plates reinforced with composite materials

Abstract

The main objective of the current research is estimating the flexural behavior of ferrocement Ribbed Plates reinforced with composite material. Experimental investigation was carried out on fifteen plates; their dimensions were kept constant at 1200 mm in length, 600 mm width and 100 mm thick but with different volume fraction of steel reinforcement and number of ribs. Test specimens were tested until failure under three line loadings with simply supported conditions over a span of 1100 mm. Cracking patterns, tensile and compressive strains, deformation characteristics, ductility ratio, and energy absorption properties were observed and measured at all stages of loadings. Experimental results were compared to analytical models using ANSYS 10 program. Parametric study is presented to look at the variables that can mainly affect the mechanical behaviors of the model such as the change of plate length. The results showed that the ultimate strength, ductility ratio and energy absorption properties of the proposed ribbed plates are affected by the volume fraction and the type of reinforcement, and also proved the effectiveness of expanded metal mesh and woven steel mesh in reinforcing the ribbed ferrocement plates. In addition, the developed ribbed ferrocement plates have high strength, ductility ratio and energy absorption properties and are lighter in weight compared to the conventional RC ribbed plates, which could be useful for developed and developing countries alike. The Finite Element (FE) simulations gave good results comparing with the experimental results.