Reinforcement-dependent long-term deflection response of baked clay beams

Reinforced Baked Clay (RBC) may serve as low-cost materials of building construction to substitute Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC). Deflection of a beam under a sustained load is considered an important parameter. Based on reports obtained from the literature, no study has been carried out on the effect of reinforcement on long-term deflection response of RBC beams and relative comparison to that of RCC beams. For this purpose, RBC beams were manufactured, baked, and post-reinforced in the tension zone only with three ratios of reinforcement (i.e., 0.003, 0.006, and 0.009). All the beams were subjected to a sustained load of 50 kN for one year. The results indicate that long-term deflection of RBC beams was reduced to 20% and 50% when the reinforcement ratio increased to 2 and 3 times the initial reinforcement ratio of 0.003, respectively. The ultimate load-carrying capacity of the RBC beams was similar to that of RCC beams. The deflection of RBC beams was thrice the deflection of RCC beams. This paper shows that RBC beams can be utilized instead of RCC ones while the element of strength is considered. (C) 2019 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.