Flexural performance of foam concrete containing pulverised bone as partial replacement of cement

Abstract:
This paper presents the results of a study conducted to investigate the flexural behaviour of foam concrete containing pulverised bone as partial replacement of cement. A total of sixty reinforced beams (150×150×750 mm) were used to investigate the flexural behaviour of the specimens. For reinforcement of the beams, hot-rolled, deformed 10-mm-diameter bars with yield and ultimate stresses of 478.10 N/mm2 and 710.81 N/mm2 respectively were used. The cement constituent of the mix was partly replaced with up to 20% of pulverised bone. The flexural parameters investigated are crack formation and its pattern, failure mode, ultimate load, theoretical and experimental ultimate moments, deflection and stiffness. From the results of this investigation, it is concluded that the provision of the design standard in relation to shear and flexural design of beams can be considered as adequate for the design of reinforced foam concrete. It is further concluded that the stiffness is not affected by the inclusion of pulverised bone in the mix at up to 15% cement replacement level, and neither is the deflection pattern of the uncracked sections of the specimens affected by the inclusion of pulverised bone. The bending moments of the specimens, however, decreased with increase in pulverised bone.

Keywords: foam concrete, cement, pulverised bone, flexural strength