Effect of Volume Fraction of Mesh on The Flexural Strength of Flat and Ribbed Ferrocement Panel

Abstract

Ferrocement is a composite used as a construction material. For any construction material, one of the crucial parameters considered during design is flexural and impact strength. This study’s objective was to look at how ribbed ferrocement panels behave when subjected to flexural and impact loads. The goal of this work was to determine how panel thickness and volume proportion of mesh affect the flexural and impact strength of ribbed ferrocement panels through an experimental and analytical programme. The experimental work consists of the preparation of ferrocement panels with 20mm, 30mm, and 40 mm thicknesses. For the preparation of the specimens, a matrix with a strength of 40 MPa and a mix proportion of cement and sand was 1:1.75 with a water-cement ratio of 0.40 was utilized. The specimens were reinforced with welded square wire mesh for a volume proportion of mesh between 1.5% to 2% for different sizes. These specimens were tested under two-point flexural loading and drop-weight impact loading. The ANSYS 16.0 programme was utilized for the analytical work to compare the experimental results by evaluating the deformation and equivalent stresses. The findings of this investigation show that specimen flexural and impact strength increased along with a rise in the panel thickness as mesh volume proportions increased. For flexural and impact loading, ribs provide adequate stiffness and skeletal steel provides good ductility as compared to those without rib specimens. The experimental findings were compared to the analytical work results and exhibited good agreement.