Comparative Analysis of the Strength Characteristics of Reinforced Foamed Aerated Concrete Slab

The growing awareness of the harmful effects that some construction projects could have on the environment coupled with the ever increasing cost of construction have necessitated the search for alternatives to the conventional construction materials. Aerated concrete is considered versatile, durable, easy to use and energy efficient as lightweight concrete and is comparatively homogeneous when related to normal. This research focus on the study of the strength characteristics of foamed aerated concrete slab reinforced with different percentages of reinforcement. The foamed aerated concrete was produced from cement and sand mixed in the ratio 1:3 with water/cement ratio of 0.5. Sieve analysis test was carried out in accordance with BS EN 933 2:2020. The ordinary Portland cement conforming to BS EN 197 and having bulk density ranging from 3050 Kg/m3 – 3159Kg/m3 was batched with sand by weight in the ratio 1:3 with w/c of 0.50 to produce the foamed aerated concrete with the foaming agent mix ratio being 1:33. The diameters of steel reinforcement used for the work were 12mm for the main bars and 10mm for distribution bars. The percentages for the reinforcement are 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% respectively. Slabs with dimensions 1300mm x 500mm x 100mm were cast and a three-point load deflection test was carried out so as to determine the deflection pattern of the slabs. The mode of failure for slabs without reinforcement was purely by flexural. The stiffness and moment capacity of the slab have been increased as a result of the reinforcement in the tension zone, the failure load for slab without reinforcement was 23.55MPa while for a reinforced aerated concrete, the failure load were 82.63MPa, 95.03MPa and 103.03MPa for percentages 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 respectively. The compressive strength obtained for the slabs at 28-day age was 16.21MPa which is beyond the limit of 15MPa, an indication of the usefulness of the foamed aerated concrete for roof slab, waffle and ribbed slab construction.