FLEXURAL BEHAVIOR OF CONCRETE BEAMS CONTAINING CERAMIC WASTE AS REPLACEMENT OF COARSE AGGREGATE

The paper presents results of the investigation conducted to evaluate the flexural performance of unreinforced and reinforced concrete beams with ceramic waste as replacement of coarse aggregate. A total of forty-five (45) nonreinforced beams (150x150x750mm) and ten (10) reinforced beams (150x250x2150mm) were used to investigate the flexural behavior of the specimens. The flexural parameters investigated are crack formation and pattern, failure mode, ultimate load, theoretical and experimental ultimate moments, and deflection. From the results of the investigation, the increase in ceramic waste content led to substantial decrease in the failure load which produced higher experimental moments when compared to theoretical moments. Generally, sudden failure mode was observed for all unreinforced specimens with cracks formed about the mid-span of the specimens. Diagonal cracks were observed in the reinforced beam test specimens and failure mode was diagonal tension failure with cracks propagating from the tension face towards the compression face. The investigation further showed an optimum (maximum) allowable deflection value of 5.09mm at 25% replacement level. It is concluded that ceramic waste usage as aggregate in concrete is sustainable for low-cost housing projects.