FLEXURAL BEHAVIOUR OF FERROCEMENT CORED SLABS USING SUPERPLASTICIZERS

Abstract

Ferrocement initially developed as a boat building material, has now many useful applications in housing, agriculture, sanitation and other aspects of rural develop-ments. The Ferrocement construction has an edge over the conventional reinforced concrete material because of its lighter weight, ease of construction, economy of material etc. This versatile material has got many applications in housing specially for precast flooring and roofing elements. In conventional reinforced concrete oractice the methods of analysis and construction are age old and well established too. Scientists and engineers have evolved various methods of analysis etc. for the design of Ferro—cement structures. In the present thesis a study on the flexural behaviour of Ferrocement cored slab units is reported. A theoretical analysis is proposed for determining the first crack load, loads for 5mm and 7mm deflection corresponding to their serviceability requirements. The load—deflection curve has been generated based on the above analysis. A new class of admixtures have emerged during last two decades, known as superplasticizers. The effect of a carbohydrate based non—chloride superplpsticizer on ferro-ceMent flexural elements has been also studied. The analysis ,of the theoretical and experimental results presented in this thesis shows that cored ferro-cement slab unit can be used for flooring and roofing purposes. The proposed method of analysis was found to be satisfactory -nd the theoretical results compare well with the experimental results.