STUDY OF THE RESISTANCE TO RUPTUREAND DEFORMATION OF A BENT BEAM MADE OF OIL PALM KERNEL SHELL (OPKS) CONCRETE REINFORCED WITH BORASSUS AETHIOPUM MART (RONIER)

The present study is related to the simple bending performance of a structural element made of Oil Palm Kernel Shell Concrete (OPKSC) reinforced with Borassus Aethiopum Mart (ronier). An experimental program with the use of three (03) distinct approaches of formulation was developed. These are respectively the formulation approaches proposed by Gibigaye et al (Gibigaye et al., 2017) and Yasmine et al (Traore et al., 2015) for OPKSC and the one proposed by DreuxGorisse for conventional aggregate concretes that served as control concrete. Reinforced roast concrete beams of size 150 mm × 150 mm × 910 mm were developed in accordance with NF EN 12390-1 and subjected to four (04) point bending until failure. It was observed an improvement of the bending strength of the OPKSC compared to the conventional aggregate concrete with a rate ranging from 3 to 80% depending on the type of formulation used. Similarly, the use of plasticizers improves the bending strength of OPKSC by more than 75%. Moreover, we notice the appearance of the first cracks as soon as the applied load reaches 60% of the breaking strength in bending which emphasizes the ductile behavior of OPKSC reinforced with roast. The OPKSC reinforced with ronier is a material suitable for use in the bent elements of the structure of lightly loaded buildings.