Investigation on the Mechanical Property and Crack Arresting Mechanism of Natural Jute Fiber used as Reinforcement for Lightweight Concrete Masonry Prism

Concrete being the widely used material in construction work is strong in compression and brittle in nature. Addition of fibres to the cementitious mix helps to improve the tensile property of the material, particularly after reaching the yield load. In addition, fiber reinforced cement composites exhibit better toughness, crack resistance, flexural capacity, and ductility than non-reinforced cement materials. In developing countries natural fibers are used in the cement composites to produce a low-cost building construction. Previous research works, carried out using sugarcane, hemp, jute, banana and coconut were found to improve the tensile and compressive strength of concrete composite elements. Main aim of this work is to study the performance of jute fiber reinforcement in lightweight foam concrete masonry structure. To study the load deformation patter, jute fiber reinforced masonry prism were subjected to axial compression load. From the stress-strain behaviour it can be concluded that jute fiber reinforcement in foam concrete help to improve the pre cracking behaviour and prevents the formation of major crack plane in masonry unit. Masonry unit with different dosages of fiber were tested and results were plotted. From the study it can be concluded that light weight foam concrete with fiber reinforcement can be used as a better alternative to clay bricks and aerated concrete blocks.