Comparative Study on Flexural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams Cast by Using Hydraulic Cement and Ordinary Portland Cement

This paper is a comparative study of the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams cast by using hydraulic cement and ordinary Portland cement for construction applications. The main variables used in this research comprise of type of cement, ultimate compressive strength of concretes, and curing time. Two different types of cement, including hydraulic cement and ordinary Portland cement, were used at three different ultimate compressive strengths of 18 MPa, 25 MPa, and 32 MPa with the curing times of 28 and 90 days. The beams' nominal span-to-depth (L/h) ratio is 8.0. The results showed that the reinforced concrete beams cast by using hydraulic cement and ordinary Portland cement had similar flexural behavior and failure patterns. Both types of the reinforced concrete beams exhibit linear elastic behavior up to approximately 80–90% of their maximum applied load. Then, the behavior of the beams is nonlinear in that the deflection increased rapidly with a slight increase in the applied load until reaching their failure. In addition, based on the experimental results obtained from this study, it was found that the ACI design equations are acceptable for predicting the design strength of the reinforced concrete beams cast by using hydraulic cement and the hydraulic cement can be an equivalent substitute for ordinary Portland cement for the reinforced concrete beams used in this study. Therefore, this application of the hydraulic cement is not only the environmentally friendly practices, but also promoting low-carbon society as well.