Experimental Investigation on Use of Shredded Thermocol to Formulate a Light Weight Concrete Mix for Concrete Filled GFRG Panels

Glass fiber reinforced gypsum panels (GFRG) are hollow panels made from modified gypsum plaster and reinforced with chopped glass fibers. The hollow cores inside the walls can be filled with in-situ concrete/reinforced concrete or insulation material to increase the structural strength or the thermal insulation, respectively. GFRG panels can be unfilled when used as partition walls, but when used as load bearing walls, it is filled with M20 grade concrete (reinforced concrete filling) in order to resist the gravity and lateral loads. The study was conducted in two stages: First stage involves formulation of an alternate light weight mix to be used in the GFRG panels in lieu of M20 grade concrete by partial replacement of cement with phosphogypsum and fine aggregate with shredded thermocol and thereby conducting experimental investigations to obtain the optimum combination. In the second stage the above formulated mix is filled in GFRG panels and experimental investigations are conducted to evaluate the strength parameters and the results are compared with the panels filled with conventional M20 concrete mix. The results of the first stage of experimental investigations are presented in this paper.