Strength of High Performance Ferrocement Composite under Compression-Compression

The versatility of ferrocement composites enable numerous applications in construction of stressed skin surface structures like domes and funicular shells. The stress condition at a point in structures such as long span thin shells, containment vessels and protective structures is biaxial compression. There is hence a need to understand the behaviour in biaxial compression. The results of 36 high performance ferrocement hollow cylindrical specimens tested under biaxial state of compression-compression are presented in this paper. The test results revealed that a stress in one direction was beneficial to the strength in the orthogonal direction. An interaction diagram is proposed to estimate the strength of ferrocement in biaxial compression-compression. The relationship between octahedral normal and shear strength is also proposed.