Case Studies in Construction Materials 11 (2019) e00297

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Case Studies in Construction Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cscm

Case study

Numerical analysis and experimental validation of reinforced

foamed concrete beam containing partial cement replacement
Amirul F. Rahmana , W.I. Goha,*, N. Mohamada , M. Sufian Kamarudina ,
Ashfaque Ahmed Jhatialb
a
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Parit Raja 86400, Johor, Malaysia
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Campus, Khairpur Mirs’,
Pakistan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Agro-industrial wastes incorporating supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs)

Received 9 May 2019 regarded as sustainable efforts to reduce environmental impact generated by agricultural
Received in revised form 22 October 2019 residual byproduct as well as the production of cement. Various waste materials are being
Accepted 25 October 2019
utilized in concrete throughout the world as SCMs, experimental work to understand the
performance of such concrete consumes time as well as cost. Therefore, three dimensional
Keywords: non-linear simulation is a key for predicting correctly the performance of concrete
Foamed concrete
comprising waste materials in various designation mixture. This experimental work was
Partial cement replacement
ABAQUS
conducted to undergo three-dimensional non-linear simulation, using concrete damage
Numerical analysis plasticity failure in ABAQUS/CAE software, of reinforced foamed concrete beam
Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) incorporating 20% Palm Oil Fuel Ash and 5% and 10% Eggshell Powder as partial cement
Eggshell powder (ESP) replacement. The simulated results indicated that the proposed finite element modelling
was successful in predicting accurately the damage behavior of foamed concrete.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

1. Introduction

Construction materials using concrete is the primary building element of structures worldwide at present. The
application of concrete in civil engineering is vast ranging from construction of bridges, dams to roads and tall buildings [1].
The high demand of concrete can be attributed to its high durability, strength, moldability and relative economy compared
with other traditional materials.
Ever since the development of concrete, many types of concrete have been manufactured. One of them being foamed
concrete. It is a type of lightweight concrete whose dry density ranges from 300 to 1800 kg/m3 which is up to 87% lighter than
the normal weight concrete [2,3]. The reduction in density is achieved by introducing air-voids [4] using foaming agent in the
mortar. The basic function of foamed concrete is to be used in the construction of nonloadbearing structures due to low
density which reduces dead load rather than normal weight concrete [5]. Foamed concrete is prepared using cement as a
binder while sand as a fine aggregate. Cement is the vital constituent of all types of concrete, which acts as a binder, binding
all other ingredients together to make a strong solid stone-like material. However, the production of cement has raised
environmental concerns [6]. It has been reported that cement industry is responsible for the emission of greenhouse gas,
which contributes to 10% of total global carbon dioxide (CO2) gas emissions [7]. The CO2 gas emissions are harmful to the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wigoh@uthm.edu.my (W.I. Goh).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2019.e00297
2214-5095/© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
2 A.F. Rahman et al. / Case Studies in Construction Materials 11 (2019) e00297

ozone layer which causes the global warming and climate change. Therefore, researches have been on-going to find
alternative binder wastes that could be used in place of cement in the production of concrete.
Production of eco-friendly concrete could be achieved by reducing the cement content with the utilization of waste
materials. The use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) has been practiced since early age of concrete to reduce
the cement content with other pozzolan materials [8]. In Malaysia, palm oil industry produces the biggest agricultural
activity with 17.32 million tonnes of crude palm oil yield export revenue at RM 64.58 billion in 2017 according to Malaysia
Palm Oil Berhad [9]. In the production of palm oil, residual waste are generated consist of trunk, kernel, empty fruit bunch
and fibers that typically combusted as biomass sources in mill plant. As result, the burned materials accumulated into fine
grain particle called palm oil fuel ash (POFA).
Palm Oil Fuel Ash, is one such waste material which is generated in hundreds of tonnes annually. The waste material is
usually disposed without proper treatment or reaping benefits from it. With the increase in palm oil production, the POFA
waste generation is likely to increase simultaneously causing significant waste management problems. Researchers have
found that POFA contains significantly high Silica Oxide (SiO2) content, and according to ASTM C618 [10], can be classified as
Class F and Class C pozzolanic materials based upon its chemical composition. Most of the waste materials which contain
pozzolanic properties are suitable to be used as SCMs to replace or reduce the cement content in concrete.
Another waste material that is being generated in abundance in Malaysia is eggshells. The egg consumption in Malaysia
has been recorded to be 830.53 metric tonnes [11] and expected to increase proportionally with trend of population, and as
such the generation of eggshell waste is also expected to increase. Similar to POFA, eggshells are disposed into landfills
without proper treatment and as such eggshell waste exhibit foul odor, stockpile occupies land space and cause health
problems due to pest. A limited number of studies have been conducted on eggshell waste as an alternative material.
Eggshells have been investigated in the form of limestone or lime as calcium oxide (CaO) in cement replacement materials.
Previous studies [12,13] reported derived lime from eggshell powder influence strength of mortars due to dilution effects.
The decrease in strength attributed due to the lower amount of cementing properties of the cement substituted with
eggshell powder.
Various waste materials available for utilization in concrete as SCMs to reduce the reliance of cement as binder, though it
may take considerable time to study the performance of concrete incorporating such waste materials. In this study, a finite
element model of foamed concrete reinforced beam containing POFA and eggshell powder (ESP) as partial cement
replacement was simulated by using ABAQUS explicit software to determine and compare the simulated results with the
experimentally obtained and based upon this, further parametric study be conducted.

2. Finite element method

Advancements in finite element combined with high end computers has enabled the study of performance of concrete.
ABAQUS is one of the computer softwares in infinite element analysis (FEA) used to solve complex engineering problems and
applicable across industrial discipline such as mechanical engineering and civil engineering. Geometry model can be
constructed before processed according to failure behavior criteria based on respective types of ABAQUS product [14].
ABAQUS explicit dynamics finite element program is a mathematical technique used for integrating the equations of motion
through time [15,16]. Previous study [17] using ABAQUS software to simulate fiber reinforced concrete beam due to concrete
damage plasticity (CDP) model reported that predicted load defection curves are in very good agreement corresponding
experimental beam values. The deflection curves sufficiently predicted using the linear law slightly neglecting initial
stiffness but provided excellent agreement with the experimental response in the post–yielding phase. Other researcher
[18], studied behavior of plain concrete beam using concrete damage plasticity with different mesh. The result reported
flexural strength in good agreement with standard laboratory despite test peak curve was steep for triangular mesh
compared to that of quadrilateral mesh.

2.1. Description of FEA model

A beam model, named FC-POFA-ES, was developed by concrete and reinforcement materials with eight nodes solid
element (C3D8R). The beam model consisted of concrete damage plasticity and the material properties listed as the Tables 1
and 2. The concrete damage plasticity data consists of compressive crushing and tensile cracking as failure mechanisms of
the material taken from mechanical properties test of specimens.
Model parts were assigned with materials properties, into single body. The model constructed with several different
section; solid rectangular, main reinforcement bar and stirrups which translated precisely into position using assembly task

Table 1
Materials properties parameter of FC-POFA-ES.

Dilatation angle Eccentricity Initial biaxial/uniaxial ratio K Density (kg/m3) Young’s Modulus (x10 6
MPa) Poisson ratio, v
(mm)
40 1.0 1.16 0.667 1800 27513 0.29
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Table 2
Concrete damage plasticity parameter.

Compressive Behavior Tensile Behavior

Yield stress (MPa) Inelastic strain Damage parameter, D Yield stress (MPa) Cracking stain Damage parameter, D
18.1573 0.000000 0.0000 8.301120 0.00000 0.0000
16.5907 0.007350 0.0000 6.448346 0.003075 0.2757
15.7653 0.011030 0.0000 5.654194 0.004352 0.3914
14.9411 0.014711 0.1025 4.839361 0.005617 0.4950
13.0157 0.018486 0.4130 4.028665 0.006792 0.5892
11.0904 0.022261 0.6003 3.226241 0.007941 0.6768
10.3305 0.0284 0.7219 2.423817 0.009092 0.7549
9.57054 0.034493 0.8435 1.613120 0.010282 0.8237
5.21096 0.046725 0.9244 0.590219 0.011516 0.8839

bar. Next, four reference points (RP) assigned to the beam model at the location of both supports and both loads as shown
in the Fig. 1.

2.2. Convergence study

Accuracy of result is dependent on total element size within the model generated. Increasing the number of elements in
the model indicated a more fine mesh which reduces percentage error as shown in Table 3. Eventually, changes towards fine
mesh produce smaller percentage of error which considered the global mesh size to have obtained. A graph of ultimate load
versus total elements was plotted to illustrate the results of the convergence study (Fig. 2).

3. Experimental programme

Previous studies have prepared foamed concrete with respect to the target density as the basis of design and no standard
design proportion method has been used [19–22]. Therefore, for this experimental study, reinforced foamed concrete beam
was prepared of target wet density of 1800 kg/m3, with water-cement ratio of 0.55 while sand-cement ratio was taken as 2:1
similar as previous studies [23,24]. Summary of mix proportion tabulated as Table 4 was used in this study.
A total of two mix batches were prepared, one with no cement replacement (control) and containing 20% POFA + 10%. ESP
by weight of cement as cement replacement. Fabrication works were conducted in Materials and Structure Laboratory as
shown in Fig. 3. The beam specimen testing were conducted after 28 day curing to determine flexural behavior of beam in
term of cracking pattern, failure mode and load vs deflection.
In this study, a total of 6 beams (3 beams per mix) were fabricated and tested. Beam dimensions were fixed with a total
length of 1500 mm while cross sectional area at 200 mm depth and 100 mm width. The design of moment was carried out by
stress block according to code of specification BS EN 1992-1-2:2004. The beams were designed as double reinforced with 2Y8
high tensile bar and R4 mild steel round bar stirrups as illustrated in the Fig. 4. The beams were tested according to BS
EN12390-5:2009 under four-point load to determine ultimate failure load after 28 days air-curing. The set-up of beam is
illustrated in Fig. 5.
Foamed concrete beam specimen tested with four point load test to determine failure load according to BS 1881-118:1983
at 28th day with Magnus frame in Material and Structure Laboratory, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. Beam specimens
were set up simply supported on near edge and subjected to a four point load as Fig. 4.

Fig. 1. Computational FC-POFA-ES beam model.

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Table 3
Comparison total element vs percentage differences.

Global mesh size Total element Ultimate load,Pu (kN) Percentage differences (%)

FEA Experimental

GB50 480 37.46 18.2 51.9

GB35 1110 34.82 18.2 48.3
GB17 7112 32.57 18.2 44.7
GB10 30 936 27.80 18.2 35.2
GB05 241 872 20.22 18.2 11.2
GB04 479 852 19.75 18.2 8.8
GB03 1 087 764 19.40 18.2 7.2

Fig. 2. Convergence study on global mesh size.

Table 4
Design mix proportion of foamed concrete.

Fresh Density (kg/m3) Proportion Ratio

Water Cement Fine Aggregate

1800 0.55 1.00 2.00

Fig. 3. Fabrication of beam specimen.

4. Results and discussion

The results of beam model from ABAQUS simulation were extracted from post processing and compared with the
experimental beam specimen.
 A.F. Rahman et al. / Case Studies in Construction Materials 11 (2019) e00297 5

Fig. 4. Experimental beam detailing.

Fig. 5. (a): Experimental four point load test set up, (b): Four point load test set up.

4.1. Flexural strength of beam

A four-point load test was carried out in accordance BS EN12390-5:2009 to determine the ultimate flexural strength of
beam specimens. The results obtained from the experimental testing are tabulated in Table 5. From the experimental testing,
it was observed that the beam control mix (with no replacement) achieved that 7.8 MPa while 30% cement replacement
(20P10E) achieved 9.2 MPa, the mix containing POFA and ESP showed significant increase in flexural strength compared to
control mix.
From the flexural strength results, it was observed that the utilization of POFA and ESP not only reduced the cement
content in the concrete significantly but also gained significant flexural strength [25], indicating that the combined
utilization of POFA and ESP is potentially advantageous.
Variation of performance in the concrete also still contributed to POFA origin, fineness during processes and burning
temperature in oil mill as stated by previous researcher [26–28]. Combination of POFA and ESP in foamed concrete beam
have more resistance against bending failure resulting higher flexural strength capacity compared with control foamed
concrete.
6 A.F. Rahman et al. / Case Studies in Construction Materials 11 (2019) e00297

Table 5
Flexural strength of Control, 20P5E and 20P10E beam.

Type of concrete mix Age (days) Average flexural strength (MPa) Percentage different against control mix
Control 28 7.8
20P10E 28 9.2 +14%

Fig. 6. (a): Cracking pattern of Control beam, (b): Cracking pattern of 20P10E beam.

4.2. Cracking pattern of beam

From Fig. 6(a and b), both control and 20P10E beam can be observed has primary cracking occurs at the middle region
which propagates diagonally towards flexural failure. However, minimal failure concentration in FEA model is shown while
in experimental beam, multiple cracks was clearly visible. In terms of cracking pattern, both experimental beam and ABAQUS
model have good agreement on general pattern.
However, ABAQUS simulation was unable to show hair cracking propagation surrounds beam model compared with
experimental beam. This suggest that compressive and tensile behavior data in concrete damage plasticity beam model
highly beneficial but restrained to predict the flexural strength and failure mode, this limitation can be overcome by addition
of pre-cracking displacement and fracture energy in the input manager as suggested by previous researcher [17].

4.3. Vertical load vs displacement

Vertical load vs displacement of beam model was considered in the history output request during analysis. Fig. 7(a) & (b)
show load vs displacement of beam model for all types of concrete mixes. Based on the result, it was shown beam
experimental and FEA model have the higher displacement value at 8 mm with ultimate load at 17 kN. Meanwhile control
beam have maximum displacement at 5 mm with ultimate load 15 kN. Trends of load increment against displacement was
relatively similar between experimental beam specimen and simulation model.

4.4. Parametric study on FC-POFA-ES beam

A series of parametric study was conducted to simulate the failure mode of beam model with different lengths.
Parametric study was needed to explore the failure criterion in different dimension length which not covered in
experimental works. Fig. 8(a) and (b) illustrate the beam failure mode at the 2000 mm length. At 2000 mm, both control and
20P10E beams overall failure mode have similar cracking pattern. It was observed the cracking started from bottom and rises
diagonally towards flexure zone.
 A.F. Rahman et al. / Case Studies in Construction Materials 11 (2019) e00297 7

Fig. 7. (a): Vertical load vs displacement of FEA and experimental beam Control, (b): Vertical load vs displacement of FEA and experimental beam 20P10E.

Fig. 8. (a): Beam Control at length 2000mm, (b): Beam 20P10E at length 2000mm.
8 A.F. Rahman et al. / Case Studies in Construction Materials 11 (2019) e00297

Fig. 9. (a): Beam Control at length 2500 mm, (b): Beam 20P10E at length 2500 mm.

For control beam, cracking failure was observed towards the failure region while the stress concentration also appeared at
support and top surfaces. Next, it can be observed cracking was at flexural region and reaches the top surface. Control and
20P10E beams model at 2000 mm length have more visible cracking pattern as compared to 1500 mm.
Both beams with 2500 mm length have the most severe failure which represented with concentration of stress at the
zone. Despite having the highest vertical load capacity, failure in flexural region was clearly shown as the Fig. 9. This might be
due to unsuitable original depth/width ratio. In addition, the reinforcement design also insufficient according to design
standard and new provided value of reinforcement area needed. All in all, the beam failure at the length 2000 mm and
2500 mm have more visible cracks concentration while remains similar failure mode with initial model.

5. Conclusions

Incorporation of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) and eggshell as partial cement replacement will help to contribute in reducing
environmental damage from industrial by utilizing agro byproduct. In this study, ultimate flexural strength and
displacement of 20P10E beam model has higher values at 17 kN and 8 mm as compared to normal mix beam at 15 kN mm
5 mm respectively. The finite element beams model were validated with experimental result. The ultimate load in ABAQUS
obtained within range 10% as compared with experimental test. Parametric study with variation in length has observed
steady increment result in term of ultimate load capacity. However the mode of failure remains same with more visible
cracks. Thus, it can be said that the simulation was capable to predict the FC-POFA-ES beam behavior. From the numerical
analysis, concrete damage plasticity model has proven good agreement to determine failure behavior of foamed concrete.
Further work on parametric study of foamed concrete is highly recommended with different boundary conditions, beam
model dimension and various material properties to overcome financial and time constraint.

Declaration of Competing Interest

None.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Postgraduate Research Grant (GPPS)-Vot H350 and
RMC Research Fund Vot E15501.

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