Review on Ferrocement

Abstract

Ferrocement is suitable for the construction of roofing/floor elements, precast units, manhole covers, and construction of domes, vaults, grid surface and folded plates. It can also be used for making water tanks, boats, and silos. It is concluded that the first crack and ultimate loads increase with the increases number of layer wire mesh. From the studies, it is observed that the load carrying capacities, deformation at ultimate load and energy absorption capacities are high in the case of increasing the number of wire mesh layers. Ferro- means iron although metal commonly used in Ferro-cement is the iron alloy steel. Today cement usually means Portland cement, Mortar is a paste of a binder (usually Portland cement), sand and water; and concrete is a fluid mixture of Portland cement, sand, water and crushed stone aggregate which is poured into formwork (shuttering) Prefabricated elements are used In construction industry as an alternative system to overcome the formwork problems in addition to getting better quality control. The prefabricated elements made of reinforced concrete are extremely heavy and difficult to transport, placing in position and to construct. Alternatively, fibrocement panels are being used in construction industry due to its good structural performance and low cost. This paper concludes that fibrocement can be a best suitable material in upcoming years with a large no of applications. In this paper review work is presented on fibrocement as a construction material and its properties. This paper also focuses on structural behavior of fibrocement when used along with different structural members.