ABSTRACT
Depletion of natural resources and increasing demand on replacing normal weight aggregate in concrete production for sustainable development, especially in marine construction, have led to the adoption of several alternatives. Such alternatives include recycled aggregates as well as, more common, lightweight aggregates. Lightweight aggregate concrete is a viable substitute to normal weight concrete, for it enhances many of the concrete durability aspects, as well as reducing the dead load.
This study considered the influence of notch depth ratio on fracture parameters on self-compacting lightweight concrete. A series of three point bending tests were carried out on notched beams with size 1000 × 150 × 100 mm. Beams (both normal self compacting concrete beams and light weight self compacting concrete beams) with three notch depth ratio of 0.2,0.3,0.4 were cast and tested. The fracture behaviour and load deflection behaviour of specimens were observed. It was observed that notch depth ratio influenced the fracture behaviour and load deflection behaviour significantly.
