EFFECT OF CELLULAR CONCRETE BLOCKS AND TRANSVERSE INTERNAL RIBS ON SHEAR STRENGTH OF HOLLOW REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS

Abstract

This study is devoted to investigate the structural behavior of reinforced concrete hollow beams filled with cellular concrete blocks (thermostone) under the effect of shear. The number (or location) of the thermostone blocks is the major variable adopted in this research, while, the other variables are kept constant for all tested specimens. The experimental part includes casting and test of five (200x300x1200mm) beam specimens with different locations of internal thermostone blocks. The experimental results indicated that the shear strength are increased (33%) to (70%) for beams containing internal ribs in comparison with reference beam. Also, the change of beam state from hollow section to solid section led to increase the capacity for about (100%). Comparison with ACI-318 Code empirical equation for shear is take place and the results indicated that the ultimate loads are in good agreement with the experimental results.