Experimental Study of Flexural Behaviour of Reinforced Baked Clay Beams under Impact Loading

摘要

This paper presents behaviour of Reinforced Baked Clay (RBC) beams under drop weight impact loading. The beams were made of two different grades of baked clay with cube crushing strength of 20 MPa and 30 MPa, respectively. The RBC beams were subjected to repeated drop weight loading by a hammer of weight equal to that of the specimen being tested. The results showed that the impact resistance of the RBC beams was governed by the compressive strength of the baked clay. Failure of grade 20 beams occurred due to irregular cracks and the beams of grade 30 failed by opening of a single crack at mid span. It was observed that the beams of grade 30 had sustained about 1.5 times more number of impacts until steel in tension zone yielded and failed completely after necking.