Influence of water-absorbent polymer balls on the structural performance of reinforced concrete beam: An experimental investigation

This research investigated the influence of water-absorbent polymer balls (WAPB) on reinforced concrete beams' structural behavior experimentally. Four self-compacted reinforced concrete beams of identical geometric layouts 150 mm x 200 mm x 1,500 mm, reinforcement details, and compressive strength f(c)' approximate to 50 MPa were castellated. Each beam contained a volume percentage of WAPB that differed from the others, and the considered percentages were V-b = 0, 1, 2, and 3%. A static test under two-point loads was adopted to evaluate the structural behavior of the tested beams. The results indicated that the maximum load capacity of the tested beams was increased by 2.0, 3.0, and 7.14% for the volume percentages of 1, 2, and 3%, respectively, as compared to the reference beam (V-b = 0%). It was also observed that the impact of V-b = 3% was higher than that of the other percentages. For all the tested beams, the mode of failure was a flexural failure that is compatible with the considered preliminary design. The results showed that increasing the percentage of polymer to 3% had a significant effect on the deflection, as the deflection was directly proportioned to the percentage of WAPB.