Abstract
In-plane tension, compression and bending tests were conducted on plain mortar and ferrocement specimens with woven and welded meshes. Tension tests were also carried out on meshes. Bending tests were conducted using specimens with centre point loading. The objective of the study was to investigate the behaviour of material reinforced with varying number of mesh layers and orientations and to evolve a set of elastic and inelastic material properties. It is observed that the conventional empirical relations based on mortar crushing strength overestimate the mortar modulus. The elastic moduli obtained using the rule of mixtures compares well with the values evaluated from the tests on ferrocement specimens. The 45° orientation emerges as the weakest configuration both in terms of the Young's modulus and ultimate stress because of the lowest volume fraction of wire mesh in the direction of loading at this orientation.