Flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete beam using partial synthetic lightweight coarse aggregate (SYLCAG)

A vast development in the construction industries indicate the highly demand for the use of concrete. This also effect the depletion problem of natural coarse aggregate such as granite, crushed rock , and stone from the quarries. Thus, as an alternative to replace the natural coarse aggregate, synthetic coarse aggregate is produced to overcome the problem. This research involves the investigation of the flexural behavior of reinforced lightweight concrete beam made from synthetic lightweight coarse aggregate (SYLCAG). The SYLCAG is used to replace partially function of natural coarse aggregate. A reinforced concrete beam was tested in the flexural beam test using the four-point loads test. The compressive strength and the flexural behavior of the lightweight beam were two important parameters examined during the beam tests. The paper compares flexural performance of the lightweight beam and the normal beam in the term of failure modes, load deflection response, and ultimate load with those of the theoretical analysis. The theoretical results for ultimate load and deflection was predicted using equation provided by the ACI 318-05 building code and EC2. From the result, it shows that the SYLCAG concrete has slightly lower compressive strength and lower density than the normal concrete. The strength of SYLCAG concrete that was developed was about 93% from strength of control concrete. However the ultimate load of SYCLAG beam was 116% of the ultimate load of control beam. SYLCAG beam also has achieved 98% deflection of control beam and 79% deflection of the theoretical value. It can be conclude that the SYLCAG beam exhibit similar flexural behavior as that of normal concret