Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
In recent years with the progress of construction methods, the idea of using lightweight materials for reducing structure weight and earthquake load has been raised up. Crack in lightweight concrete passes through aggregates causing a smooth surface compared with fractured surface of normal concrete. This difference in cracking mechanism changes the overall behavior of members made of lightweight concrete compared to normal concrete. In this study the behavior of lightweight concrete deep beams has been investigated, experimentally. For this purpose four deep beams with shear span to height-ratio of 0.5 have been prepared and loaded in static form in the structural laboratory of Tarbiat Modares University. Beams depth were 30, 45, 60 and 90 centimeters. Finally, the results were compared to truss method available in ACI, CSA and EC2 codes. Results show that by increasing the height of beam, the normalized ultimate load decreases and failure mode doesn’t vary and also relations in ACI and EC2 codes are conservative for all tested beams but results of CSA code are non-conservative for beams with 90 centimeters height, indicating more investigation is needed.
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