Flexural Response of Reinforced Concrete One-Way Slabs Embedded with Pet Bottles

• Main Author: Alhomsi, Chahed Abdulsatir
• Other Authors: Tabsh, Sami
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Voided slabs; Concrete; Ductility; Flexure; Stiffness; Moment-capacity; sami
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11073/25307

A Master of Science thesis in Civil Engineering by Chahed Abdulsatir Alhomsi entitled, “Flexural Response of Reinforced Concrete One-Way Slabs Embedded with Pet Bottles”, submitted in May 2023. Thesis advisor is Dr. Sami Tabsh. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form). The feasibility of a cost-effective and eco-friendly slab system to be used in developing regions is investigated. The system consists of a thin reinforced concrete slab that is embedded with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles as void creators. The voids will reduce the amount of concrete that could have been used in an equivalent solid slab without compromising the capacity. The main objective of this proposal is to investigate the flexural behavior of one-way reinforced concrete slabs embedded with PET bottles using laboratory experiments and numerical studies. To do so, 11 reinforced concrete slabs of 2200 mm length and 600 mm width were constructed and instrumented with strain gauges and LVDT’s and tested by a 4-point loading scheme under a displacement-controlled loading rate. The study considered the effect of the slab thickness (180 mm and 230 mm) concrete compressive strength (30 MPa and 50 MPa), steel reinforcement ratio (0.291% and 0.418%), percentage of the void (29% 22% and 17%) as well as top reinforcement ratio (0% and 0.192%). The results addressed stiffness, elastic behavior, yielding, post yield performance, ductility and ultimate strength. The behavior of tested voided slabs were compared with that of corresponding solid slabs. ACI-318 code equations were used to predict the moment capacities of the tested specimens. In addition, nonlinear finite element models were created using ANSYS and load-deflection curves from those models were compared with the experimental curves of the corresponding specimens. In general, findings of the study demonstrated that voided slabs exhibit on average a 5.1% decrease in moment capacity, 6.5% decrease in ductility, 12% ...