In reinforced concrete design, the concrete in the tensile zone is assumed to be ineffective and increase the dead load of the structural elements. In order to reduce the self-weight, this paper examines the structural behavior of reinforced concrete beams containing lightweight concrete in the tensile region and normal weight concrete in the rest of the beam. The lightweight concrete was made from waste polystyrene. Four reinforced concrete beams were prepared with different depth of lightweight concrete. The control beam B1 consists of normal concrete. In Beams B2, B3 and B4, the depth of lightweight concrete was 25%, 50% and 75% of the total depth of the beam measured from the bottom surface respectively. A four-point bending test was conducted on all beams. The beams were loaded in increments until failure. At each load increment, the central deflection was determined. Cracks initiation and the mode of failure were observed during the experiment. The failure load was found to decreases with the increase of depth of lightweight concrete. The presence of lightweight aggregate tends to cause brittle failure. In addition, the mode of failure for reinforced concrete beams containing lightweight concrete was a shear failure. arabic 11 English 79
Hakim S. Abdelgader(6-2020)

The performance of novel Layered Two Stage Fibrous Composite slabs (LTSFC) was pioneered under falling mass collisions using a combined experimental and numerical study. Such LTSFC slabs consist of three layers with and without the insertion of glass fibre mesh between the layers. LTSFC techniques were used to fabricate the composite slabs with three layers including 3%, 1.5%, and 3% of fibre content for the top, middle, and bottom layers respectively. Sixteen MLPAFC square slabs were cast with only short hooked end fibres and tested under falling mass collisions by amending two parameters namely the type of support (fixed and hinge) and support layout. Two distinct support layouts on two types of support were considered and tested with and without the glass fibre mesh between layers of LTSFC. A glass fibre mesh was introduced between the three layers to block crack growth propagation and absorb additional collision energy. The glass fibre mesh insertion between the layers and the LTSFC production technique were considered as novel modifications. A numerical study using Auto desk Fusion 360 was conducted and compared with experimental results. The numerical results showed fair agreement with the experimental test results. Based on the validated numerical models, collision energy and cracking pattern evolution were studied. The findings indicated that the glass fibre mesh insertion between the layers combined with steel fibres disrupted crack proliferation, thus exhibiting superior engrossed collision energy and postponing crack growth. Additionally, the engrossed collision energy at crack initiation and ultimate crack for the slabs with four sides fixed and hinged support were greater with respect to two opposite sides fixed and hinged support. Numerical values were in reasonable agreement with the experimental values in terms of collision energy and cracking patterns. arabic 13 English 81
Hakim S. Abdelgader(2-2021)

The behavior of reinforced concrete beams containing fibers made of waste plastic straws (WPSs) under the three point bending test is examined. The eect of WPS fiber addition on the compressive and split tensile strength is reported. Four concrete mixes were prepared. The control mix PS-0 had a proportion of 1 cement: 1 sand: 2 coarse aggregate and a water cement ratio of 0.4. In the other three mixes PS-0.5, PS-1.5 and PS-3, 0%, 0.5%, 1.5% and 3% of WPS fiber (by volume) was added respectively. The results show that at 0.5% WPS, there is slight increase in compressive strength. However, beyond 0.5% addition, a decrease in compressive strength is observed. The split tensile strength shows a systematic increase with the addition of WPS fibers. The reinforced concrete beams containing WPS fibers show higher ductility as demonstrated by the larger ultimate tensile strain and ductility index (Du/Dy). There is a tendency to have more fine cracks with the presence of WPS fibers. arabic 9 English 76
Hakim S. Abdelgader(10-2020)