ABSTRACT
The use of box shapes is eminently suited for flexural elements of large spans due to their high rigidities. They also have the advantage of being able to accommodate services in them, as well as maintaining a uniform temperature. This paper reports the behaviour and performance of a twin cell ferrocement box girder structure of width 2.36 m and effective span 4.58 m in the uncracked and cracked stages. In the uncracked stage, the girder was loaded and unloaded under various combinations of symmetric and unsymmetric loads. The girder was later subjected to monotonically increasing sustained loads of short durations upto near ultimate load. The girder has been analysed by finite element method under dead load and monotonically increasing live loads. The experimental results in the elastic stage show good comparison with the theoretical results. The effect of sustained loads of short durations is maximum in the initial portion of the cracked range. However, the ultimate load of the girder is unaffected by the sustained loading.
