Experimental evaluation of the effort of dune sand replacement levels on flexural behaviour of reinforced beam

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to explore the flexural behaviour of reinforced beam made with dune sand (DS) from Gurbantunggut desert in northwest China's Xinjiang province. In order to study the influence of DS replacement levels on the engineering properties of dune sand concrete (DSC) beam, the mechanical properties of DSC and the flexural behaviour of DSC beam were examined with the DS replacement levels ranged from 0% to 80%. Based on the test results, the equations for DSC were proposed to describe the effect of DS replacement levels on mechanical properties of DSC. Meanwhile, the crack pattern and failure modes of DSC beams were investigated, the formula to calculate flexural strength of DSC beam was established, and the concrete strain, strains in reinforcement and load-deflection curve of beams were discussed.