Research Article

Structural behavior of hollow‑core reinforced self‑compacting

concrete beams
Murtada A. Ismael1 · Yahyia M. Hameed1

Received: 20 September 2021 / Accepted: 4 April 2022

© The Author(s) 2022  OPEN

Abstract
This paper presents an experimental investigation on the structural performance of hollow-core reinforced self-com-
pacting concrete beams and performs an optimization analysis to select the optimum hollow-core beam section, as
well as perform a sustainability analysis. The experimental program includes constructing and testing five beams with
different longitudinal hollow-core diameters created by using recycled plastic pipes, as well as a solid beam, used as a
reference specimen. The results show that it can reduce the concrete from self-compacting concrete beams with per-
centages from 5.4 to 14.2 with a decrease in the first crack load from 9.1 to 22.7% and the ultimate strength from 2.3
to 10.5% respectively compared to the reference solid beam. The optimization analysis shows that the beam of 46 mm
diameter hollow-core is the optimum selection in the concrete volume reduction of 11.1%, cracking load, and ultimate
load reduction of 13.6% and 9.3% respectively among all the other beam specimens. While the sustainability analysis
reveals that, using longitudinal voids of diameters from 32 to 52 mm leads to a decrease in the embodied energy with
percentages from 5.4 to 14.2% and carbon dioxide emission with percentages from 5.4 to 14.1% respectively. Increas-
ing the longitudinal void diameter makes hollow-core self-compacting concrete beams more ductile and exhibits large
deflections before failure occurrences.

Article Highlights 2. Recycled plastic pipes are used to create hollow-core

in the beams and to reduce ineffective concrete.
1. Tests on hollow-core reinforced self-compacting con- 3. Reducing ineffective concrete contributes to sustain-
crete beams are conducted. ability with maintaining a good ratio of beam strength.

Keywords Hollow-core · Sustainability · Optimization · Self-compacting concrete · Concrete elimination

List of Symbols ϕ Diameter of steel bar, mm
As Tensile steel reinforcement area, ­mm2 H1 The height of SCC at the end of horizontal sec-
a Depth of rectangular stress block, mm tion of L-box test
b Beam width, mm H2 The height of the remaining SCC in the verti-
c Distance from extreme compression fiber to cal section of L- box test
the neutral axis, mm
Abbreviations
fc’ Concrete compressive strength at 28 days
No. Number
age, MPa
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
fy Yielding stress of steel reinforcement, MPa
CO2 Carbon Dioxide

* Murtada A. Ismael, murtadaameer13@yahoo.com | 1College of Engineering, University of Diyala, Baqubah, Iraq.

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EE Embodied Energy strength and increased the deflections for the hollow
EFNARC​ European Federation of National Associations beams having the same properties. Varghese and Joy [8]
Representing for Concrete investigated the effect of hollow-core position across the
HSC High Strength Concrete beam depth on the flexural performance of RC beams,
IQS Iraqi Quality Standardization the results revealed that the optimum ratio of the circu-
LVDT Linear Variable Differential Transformer lar hollow-core center to the beam depth was 0.53. The
PVC Polyvinyl Chloride effect of the transverse openings on the RC hollow beam
RC Reinforced Concrete under cyclic, bending, and torsional loadings was studied
SCC Self-compacting Concrete by Jabber et al. [9], it was found that the transverse open-
UHPC Ultra-high-performance Concrete ings of hollow beams showed a reduction in the beam
strength, although the small openings had a neglected
effect on the strength of hollow beams, the outcomes also
1 Introduction showed that the strength of ultra-high-performance con-
crete (UHPC) beams for twisting was twice that of high
Using longitudinal voids in reinforced concrete beams strength concrete (HSC) beams. Satheesh and Nyodu
is one of the methods to reduce the concrete from the [10] presented a study on the structural performance of
tension zone to get lightweight beams. The hollow-core hollow RC beams using circular Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
concrete beams have many advantages over conventional pipes at various depths along the lateral direction, their
solid beams; however, the voids reduce the concrete of results revealed that the strength of the beam was high
the beams, resulting in decreasing the dead loads that in the centroid region compared to other regions. Mani-
in turn leads to; reducing the total cost, rapid construc- kandan et al. [11] investigated the structural performance
tion, getting long-span beams, with maintaining a good of hollow sandwich RC beams with different void shapes,
ratio of the beam strength. Also, reducing the concrete the hollow-core introduced by using expanded polysty-
from the structural members contributes to the sustain- rene foam in the tension zone of RC beams, the results
ability process since it can preserve the environment due of this investigation revealed that the structural behavior
to the reduction in the consumption of natural resources, of RC beams with circular hollow-core was more efficient
reducing carbon dioxide (­ CO2) emission and embodied than RC square hollow beams. Varghese and Joseph [12]
energy. Furthermore, longitudinal voids can be used to presented a comparison between the flexural behavior
run mechanical and electrical equipment [1]. of RC beam of hollow-core created by polyurethane and
In structural members that are subjected to a posi- expanded polystyrene, the experimental results showed
tive bending moment, two stress zones arise in its cross- that polyurethane was a more effective replacement as
section; compression zone at the top, and tensile zone at it offers better damping properties. Sariman and Nurdin
the bottom. Due to the weakness of concrete in carrying [13] compared the ultimate load of RC T-beam with hollow
tension stresses, steel reinforcement is usually provided RC T-beam in which the longitudinal voids were created
in the tension zone where concrete acts as strain transfer- from plastic wastes; the study revealed that the ultimate
ring media to steel reinforcement. Therefore, it is possi- strength of each tested beam did not give any significant
ble to remove part of the concrete from the tension zone difference. el-kassas et al. [14] presented a study on the
in which the concrete does not significantly affect the impact of longitudinal voids on the performance of deep
strength of the beam using longitudinal voids which are beams made of high strength concrete, it was concluded
created by placing plastic pipes [2]. that increasing the longitudinal void size led to a decrease
There are many studies dealt with the structural behav- in ultimate load, the longitudinal void shape had a slight
ior of hollow-core beams were presented in recent years, effect on the performance of these beams. Abbass et al.
the following are the most important contributions in [15] investigated the behavior of hollow high strength con-
this field; Alnuaimi et al. [3], found that the rectangular crete beams under bending loads, the outcomes revealed
longitudinal openings contributed to the performance that the square hollow beams with volume decreasing of
of hollow beams and could not be neglected especially percentages of 16% and 28% had a ductility higher than
as the combined load of the shear, moment, and torsion that of the beam without hollows, the hollow beam with
were presented. Alshimmeri and Al-Maliki [4], Parthiban decreasing of 44% had the ductility close to that of the
and Neelamegam [5], Dhinesh and Satheesh [6], Kumb- solid beam.
har and Jadhav [7] investigated the impact of rectangular From all the previous studies, it can be noted that:
longitudinal voids on the flexural performance of hollow
reinforced concrete (RC) beams, it was found that the 1. The previous studies did not investigate the relation-
existence of rectangular hollow decreased the ultimate ship between the amount of the eliminated concrete

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using different circular longitudinal voids and its effect of the beam, as well as a solid beam (without longitudinal
on the structural characteristics of the concrete slen- voids) used as a reference. The percentage of eliminated
der beams. Whereas, the previous studies either used concrete depends on the size (diameter) of the pipe. The
longitudinal voids of a fixed cross-sectional or the size of the pipe has been chosen so it can be placed in the
change was made using longitudinal voids of square tension zone at a level so that the distance from the lower
or rectangular shape. level of any pipe to the upper level of the flexural rebar is
2. The previous studies did not investigate beams greater than 15 mm to provide enough space for the pen-
made of self-compacting concrete (SCC), except one etration of the fresh concrete in the areas below the pipe.
research that studied this topic on deep beams, not Table 1. lists the details of the beams and the experimental
slender beams. However, SCC has different characteris- program. The layout, cross-sections of the beams, and side
tics from conventional concrete in that, it is comprised view in one of the hollow-core beams are shown in Fig. 1.
of a smaller maximum size and lower content of coarse
aggregate [16], this causes a decrease in the coarse
aggregate interlock in SCC, resulting in weakness in 3 Ingredient materials
the transfer of internal shear forces thus the structural
behavior of SCC members are different from that of 3.1 Concrete ingredients and mix quantities
conventional concrete.
3. The previous studies did not present a sustainability SCC mix was used to cast the beams of this research. It
analysis on this type of beams to know the ability of was designed based on the European specification of self-
this type of beams in reducing the consumption of compacting concrete (EFNARC) [16]. The components of
natural resources and decreasing C ­ O2 emissions and the mix included: Portland cement Type I conformed with
embodied energy. IQS No.5-1984 specification [17], powder of limestone
complied with the European specifications for SCC [16],
Therefore, this research provides an experimental crushed gravel and sand complied with IQS No.45–1984
investigation to study the effect of different longitudinal specification [18], Super-plasticizer (Glenium 51) complied
hollow-core diameters created by using recycled plastic with ASTM-C494 requirements [19], as well as tap water.
pipes on the structural performance of hollow-core rein- Part of the cement was replaced by limestone powder,
forced SCC slender beams and performs an optimization with a ratio of 1:0.76 on a mass basis, this ratio was chosen
analysis to select the optimum hollow-core beam, as well based on the trial mixes that were carried out to choose
as making a sustainability analysis on this type of beams the appropriate SCC mix. The ingredients of this mix are
to know the ability of this type of beams in reducing the illustrated in Table 2.
consumption of the natural resources and decreasing C ­ O2 To ensure that the concrete of this study is SCC, the
emissions and embodied energy. standard experimental tests of fresh SCC were done
The rest sections of this article are arranged as follows: (L-box, V-funnel, T50 cm slump flow, and Slump flow) [16].
Sect. 2 introduces the experimental scheme of the tested Table 3 shows that the results of these tests satisfied the
beams. In Sect. 3, the ingredient materials of each beam of EFNARC requirements [16]. The compressive strength
are presented. Section 4. describes the testing procedure (fc’) of each beam casting batch was determined accord-
of the beams. The experimental results and discussion are ing to ASTM-C39 requirements [20]. Figure 2 shows the
reviewed in Sect. 5, and the conclusions are presented in fresh SCC tests.
Sect. 6.

2 Experimental scheme Table 1  Beam details

Beam code Beam kind Hollow-core Concrete
The experimental scheme of this research consists of con- diameter (mm) elimination
structing and testing six simply supported beam speci- (%)
mens made of self-compacting concrete (SCC). The beams
B1 Solid – –
have identical dimensions (1000 mm length, 150 mm
B2 Hollow-core beam 32 5.4
height, and 100 mm width). Five of these specimens have
B3 Hollow-core beam 36 6.8
longitudinal voids created by using recycled plastic pipes
B4 Hollow-core beam 40 8.4
with outer diameter of 32 mm, 36 mm, 40 mm, 46 mm,
B5 Hollow-core beam 46 11.1
and 52 mm to eliminate the concrete with percentages
B6 Hollow-core beam 52 14.2
of 5.4%, 6.8%, 8.4%, 11.1%, and 14.2% from the volume

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Table 3  Results of fresh SCC tests

Mix L-box (H2/ V-funnel (s) T50 cm Slump flow

H1) Slump flow (mm)
(s)

SCC 0.93 9 3 692

EFNARC 0.8–1 6–12 2–5 650–800
require-
ments [16]

Fig. 2  Fresh SCC tests

Fig. 1  a Layout of the hollow-core concrete beams. b Cross-sec-
tions of the solid beam (B1) and hollow-core concrete beams (B2 to
B6). c Side-view in one of the hollow-core beams Table 4  Plastic pipes properties
Properties
­ 3
Table 2  Concrete mix ingredients per m
Density (kg/m3) 1400
Cement Gravel Sand (kg) Limestone Super- Water Young modulus (MPa) 2248
(kg) (kg) powder plasticizer (litre) Ultimate tensile strength (MPa) 36
(kg) (litre)
Linear expansion coefficient ­(K−1) 7.6 × ­10–5
300 670 850 230 1.85 200

components of concrete or steel reinforcement. Table 4

illustrates the properties of the plastic pipes. The den-
H1: The height of the concrete at the end of horizontal sity of the pipes was obtained according to ASTM D792
section of the L-box. [22], Young modulus and ultimate tensile strength were
H2: The height of the remaining concrete in the vertical obtained according to ASTM D638 [23], and the linear
section of the L-box. expansion coefficient according to ASTM D696 [24].
These pipes had enough strength to support the load
3.2 Steel reinforcement of fresh concrete through the stage of pouring. All these
pipes were placed in the tension zone below the neutral
The tested beams of this study were reinforced longitu- axis of the beams at a distance of 79 mm from the bottom
dinally by 2ϕ10 mm deformed steel bars of 492 MPa yield fibre of the beam to the center of the pipe. This level was
stress in the beam tension zone, and with 6 mm@50 mm as chosen so that the distance from the lower level of any
shear reinforcement (stirrups). Also, 2ϕ5mm smooth steel pipe to the upper level of the flexural rebar is greater than
bars were placed in the compression zone to fix the stir- 15 mm to provide enough space for the penetration of
rups as illustrated in Fig. 1. The tensile test results of the the fresh concrete in the areas below the pipe. It is worth
bar 10 mm complied with ASTM -A615 [21]. noting that the reason for placing the pipes at the ten-
sion zone below the neutral axis belongs to the fact that
3.3 Pipes the concrete in this zone does not significantly affect the
strength of the beam. The position of the neutral axis (c)
In this research, the longitudinal voids along the beams was calculated according to ACI code [25] as follows:
were constructed by using recycled plastic pipes. The
materials of these pipes do not chemically react with the

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2
Asfy 2 ∗ 104∗𝜋 ∗ 492
a= = = 30.3mm (1)
0.85fc� b 0.85 ∗ 30 ∗ 100

a a 30.3
c= = ( 0.05 f � −28 ) = ( ) = 36.3mm
𝛽1 (c ) 0.85 − 0.05(30−28)
0.85 − 7 7
(2)

4 Testing procedure of the beams

A hydraulic machine of 600kN capacity was used to test Fig. 3  Setup of beam testing
the beam specimens by applying two concentrated loads.
Rigid supports were used at 50 mm from each side of the
beam to achieve 900 mm clear span. The test machine
applied a load that began to increase at a constant load-
ing rate of 0.25kN/sec until it reached the ultimate value
that represented the bearing capacity of the beam, and
the test finished as the deflection increased without apply-
ing a load, which indicated the failure of the beam. The
beam deflection at mid-span was determined in all steps
of loading using Linear Variable Differential Transformer
(LVDT) as shown in Fig. 3.

5 Results and discussion

5.1 Failure modes

The beam tests revealed that all the beams failed in flex-
ure mode. The general behavior of these beams may be
described as follows: at the small load increments, initial
small cracks formed in the middle region between the
two-point loads at the tension zone, these cracks referred
to the cracking load. With the progress of the loading, the
cracks expanded and propagated upwards, and other
cracks formed in this region as well as in the shear regions
between the load and support on each side. In this stage,
the cracks in the hollow-core beams extended faster than
that of the solid beam. Later, more loading made the
cracks of the middle region extend faster upward and
Fig. 4  Cracks at the failure of the tested beams
some of these cracks extended to the compression zone
leading to the failure of the beam. Figure 4 shows the
cracks at the failure of the tested beams. This figure reveals aggregate within the beam concrete, and both the size of
that the existence of the longitudinal voids in the beams the longitudinal void and the pattern of the distribution
B2, B3, B4, and B5 of diameters 32 mm,36 mm,40 mm, and of the aggregate affect in turn the pattern of crack forma-
46 mm made the cracks concentrated in a narrower middle tion and its extension (it is known that the cracks arise in
region, referring to a concentration of tensile stresses in the transition zone between the aggregate and the hard-
that region of the beam. Also, the cracks spread to a larger ening cement paste), and this effect does not necessarily
area when using the longitudinal void of diameter 52 mm. increase with the increase in the size of the longitudinal
This behavior can be explained by that the existence of a voids, but rather it may depends on the proportion of the
longitudinal void in a beam affects the distribution of the size of the longitudinal voids and the size of the concrete

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Table 5  Results of the tested Beam Compressive Concrete elim- Cracking Decreasing Ultimate Decreasing
beams strength fc’ (MPa) ination (%) load (kN) percentage (%) load (kN) percentage
(%)

B1 30.3 – 23 – 86 –
B2 30.1 5.4 21 9.1 84 2.3
B3 30.9 6.8 20 13.6 83 3.5
B4 30.2 8.4 19 18.2 81 5.8
B5 30.5 11.1 20 13.6 78 9.3
B6 30.3 14.2 18 22.7 77 10.5

25 100

20
First crack load (kN)

80

Ultimate load (kN)

15 60

10 40

5
20
0
0
0 32 36 40 46 52
Longitudinal void diameter (mm) 0 32 36 40 46 52
Longitudinal void diameter (mm)
Fig. 5  Influence of longitudinal void diameter on the cracking load
Fig. 6  Influence of longitudinal void diameter on ultimate load

components as well as their distribution within the beam

concrete. the pattern of the aggregate distribution within the beam
concrete, and both the size of the longitudinal voids and
5.2 Cracking and ultimate loads the pattern of the distribution of the aggregate affect
the pattern of crack formation and its extension, and this
The results of the cracking and ultimate loads are listed in effect does not necessarily increase with the increase in
Table 5, also Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the influence of longi- the size of the longitudinal voids, but rather depends on
tudinal void diameter on the cracking load and ultimate the proportion of the size of the longitudinal voids with
load respectively. In general, it may be noticed that the the size of the concrete components and their distribution
cracking load is more affected by the existence of the lon- within the beam concrete.
gitudinal voids than the ultimate strength. However, elimi- In comparison with the results of previous research, it
nating the concrete with percentages 5.4%, 6.8%, 8.4%, can be found that Alshimmeri and Al-Maliki [4], showed
11.1% and 14.2% from the volume of the beam concrete, that the reduction ratios in concrete with percentages of
to decrease the crack load by 9.1%, 13.6%, 18.2%, 13.6% 7.4% and 14.8% using square and rectangular longitudi-
and 22.7%, while the ultimate strength decreases with per- nal voids, led to decreases in the first crack load by 20%,
centages 2.3%, 3.5%, 5.8%, 9.3% and 10.5% respectively. and 33% and the ultimate load by 50% and 55% respec-
The reason for these reductions in cracking and ultimate tively. It can be observed from this comparison that the
loads belongs to the existence of the longitudinal voids, effect of the existence of circular longitudinal voids on the
these voids lead to a reduction in the moment of inertia cracking load and the ultimate load is less than the effect
of the beam section; which is, in turn, leads to a reduction of the existence of square and rectangular longitudinal
the flexural rigidity resulting in a decrease the cracking voids. This difference can be attributed to the occurrence
and ultimate load. Also, it can be noted that the reduc- of stress concentrations at the corners in square or rectan-
tion in the cracking load of hollow-core beam B5 is similar gular longitudinal voids, while the distribution of stresses
to that of the hollow-core beam B3, this behavior can be is more uniform with the existence of circular longitudinal
explained by the same way previously mentioned, which is voids.
that the existence of longitudinal voids in the beam affects

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5.3 Selection of optimum hollow‑core beam 16

14
To select the optimum hollow-core beam in this research
12
in terms of structural performance and decreasing in
concrete volume, the relationships between the decreas-

Decresing %
10
ing in the beam concrete volume and the load decreas-
8
ing at cracking and ultimate load on the one hand, and
the diameter of the longitudinal voids on the other hand 6
are presented in Figs. 7 and 8. It can be noted from these 4
figures that the curves of decreasing in concrete volume Concrete volume
2
close to that of the cracking and ultimate load in the beam Ultimate load
of 46 mm diameter hollow-core, which gives the optimum 0
decreasing in the concrete volume with a less decreasing 30 35 40 45 50 55
in cracking and ultimate load by percentages 13.6% and Diameter of longitudinal void (mm)
9.3% respectively among all the other beam specimens,
as the hollow-core are required to satisfy the economic Fig. 8  Decreasing in ultimate load and concrete volume with differ-
and environmental considerations with preserving the ent longitudinal voids
structural beam performance. It can be noted from these
figures that the optimum decreasing of concrete is more
affected by the least decrease in cracking load as the ulti- 5.4 Load–deflection behavior
mate load decreases steadily when the percentage of
eliminated concrete increases. This behavior can be attrib- The load–deflection relationship of the beams is shown in
uted to the fact that the beam strength before the first Fig. 9. The figure reveals that the load–deflection curves
cracking load depends on concrete and steel together, so have three stages; the first represents elastic stage up to
removing part of the concrete from the tensile zone affects appearance first crack, in this stage, the load is directly
the first crack load. While after the first crack, the cracks proportional to deflection, the second starts beyond the
increase and the contribution of concrete in resisting the cracking load until tensile steel yield, in this stage the
applied loads reduce with the increase in the role of steel deflection increases faster than the first stage but it is still
in resisting the applied loads. Therefore, removing part of linear, and final stage begun beyond the yielding of tensile
the concrete have less impact on the ultimate strength of steel until the ultimate deflection, in which the deflection
the beam. increases rapidly with a small increment in load.
Also, it can be noted from this figure that the slope of
the elastic portion is approximately identical for all the
curves of the beams with different cracking loads, and
the effect of increasing the hollow-core diameter becomes
significant after the cracking load. This behavior may be
25 belong to the fact that the existence of longitudinal voids
at a distance of 79 from the bottom face of the hollow-core
20 beam makes them somewhat far from the high stresses
that are generated in the bottom face at the beginning of
the loading before reaching the cracking load, so it can be
Decresing %

15
seen that the effect of the longitudinal voids is very small,
but when the cracks occur and reach to the borders of
10
the voids the effect becomes very clear. But as the loading
progresses the stresses at the lower level of longitudinal
5 Concrete volume voids increase causing different cracking loads depending
First crack load on the size of the longitudinal void in addition to the distri-
0 bution pattern of the coarse aggregate, so there are differ-
30 35 40 45 50 55 ences in the cracking load. Furthermore, the figure reveals
Diameter of longitudinal void (mm) that the load–deflection becomes less stiff after cracking
load with increasing the hollow-core diameter, however
Fig. 7  Decreasing in cracking load and concrete volume with differ- at any particular load level, the deflection increases with
ent longitudinal voids increasing the hollow-core diameter. The reason for this

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responsible interaction when performing every work or

activity in life” [26]. The construction of buildings requires
large quantities of natural resources represented by con-
struction materials. Providing and producing the construc-
tion materials require energy and lead to pollution and
waste. Minimizing the construction materials reduces the
consumption of natural resources, embodied energy (EE),
pollution, and wastes. In the hollow-core beams, reducing
part of the concrete by placing pipes in the tension zone
leads to a reduction in the total self-weight of the beam
which is, in turn, leads to reducing the consumption of
natural resources, reducing C ­ O2 emission and embodied
energy. This process contributes to sustainability.
Fig. 9  Influence of longitudinal void diameter on load–deflection There are two methods to calculate ­CO2 emissions and
behavior of SCC beams embodied energy, these methods are “Alcorn” method
[27–29] and “GaBi” method [30]. Each method presents
factors for each construction material to determine C ­ O2
behavior belongs to the reduction in the flexural rigid- emission and embodied energy by multiplying the weight
ity with increasing the longitudinal void diameter due to of the material by its factors. The factors of each method
the reducing the moment of inertia. Table 6 shows that differ according to the fuel used in the production of con-
the ultimate deflection increases by about 3.84%, 5.84%, struction materials, inputs for the manufacture of each
8.18%, 6.68%, and 9.02%, while the decreases in deflec- material. In the Alcorn method the quantities of materi-
tion values at the cracking load is very slight, this leads als are multiplied by factors of New Zealand embodied
to increasing the ductility with percentages of 9.03%, energy and embodied C ­ O2, while in the “GaBi” method,
8.42%, 10.82%, 14.11 and 14.47% respectively as com- the embodied energy and embodied ­CO2 emissions are
pared with the reference solid beam. Thus, increasing the obtained from the GaBi LCA software [30], which are
longitudinal void diameter makes hollow -core SCC beams established on European materials. In this research Alcorn
more ductile and exhibits large deflections before reach- method is used to determine ­CO2 emissions, and embod-
ing the ultimate load. This characteristic is very useful for ied energy from the hollow-core beams, in this method,
concrete members since it makes concrete show earlier the weights of the beam construction materials (cement,
caution before the failure and prevents catastrophic col- sand, and gravel) are multiplied by factors to determine
lapse. These results are compatible with the findings of ­CO2 emission and embodied energy as listed in Table 7.
previous researchers Al-Maliki et al. [1] and Alshimmeri The quantities of beam materials of the solid beam and
and Al-Maliki [4]. hollow-core concrete beams are listed in Table 8, the cal-
culations of the embodied energy and ­CO2 emission based
5.5 Sustainability analysis of hollow‑core concrete on the ALCORN method are listed in Table 9.
beam It can be noted from Tables 8 and 9 that the hollow-core
concrete beams serve sustainability by the reduction of
Sustainability can be defined as “It is the ability to pre- the construction materials as well as decreasing the energy
serve the environment and natural resources through required for extracting and manufacturing of these raw

Table 6  Deflection and ductility of the tested beams

Beam Deflection at Decreasing percentage of Ultimate Increasing percentage of Ductility ratio Increasing percent-
first crack (Δcr) deflection at first crack (%) deflection ultimate deflection (%) (∆ult/∆cr) age of ductility ratio
(Δult) (%)

B1 0.42 – 5.99 – 14.26 –

B2 0.40 4.76 6.22 3.84 15.55 9.03
B3 0.41 2.38 6.34 5.84 15.46 8.42
B4 0.41 2.38 6.48 8.18 15.80 10.82
B5 0.40 4.76 6.51 8.68 16.28 14.11
B6 0.42 0 6.53 9.02 16.33 14.47

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Table 7  ALCORN method factors [27–29] on this type of beam. This investigation reveals the impor-
Beam materials Cement Sand Gravel tance of using longitudinal voids in the reinforced SCC
beams for reducing the consumption of natural resources,
CO2 emission (kg/kg) 0.994 0.007 0.002 reducing carbon dioxide emissions and embodied energy
EE (MJ/kg) 6.16 0.1 0.04 with maintaining a good percentage of structural perfor-
mance. From the results of this investigation, it can be
concluded that:
materials and reducing ­CO2 emission. However, eliminat- Reducing the concrete from SCC beams with percent-
ing the concrete with percentages 5.4%,6.8%,8.4%,11.1% ages from 5.4 to 14.2% using longitudinal voids created by
and 14.2% leads to decrease the embodied energy with using recycled plastic reduces the first crack load between
percentages 5.4%, 6.8%,8.4%,11.1% and 14.2% and ­CO2 9.1 and 22.7% and the ultimate strength between 2.3 and
emission with percentages 5.4%, 6.7%,8.3%,10.9% and 10.5% respectively as compared with the solid beam.
14.1%. The existence of longitudinal voids in the tension zone
of reinforced SCC beams has a neglected effect on the
load–deflection relationship before the cracking load and
6 Conclusions the effect has begun to increase with increasing the load-
ing after the cracking load.
Hollow-core RC beams have many advantages over The load–deflection curve becomes less stiff with
conventional solid beams represented by the lighter increasing the longitudinal void diameter, and the ulti-
self-weight, which leads to lower cost, faster construc- mate deflection increase compared to the solid beam.
tion, longer spans, with maintaining a good percentage The beam of 46 mm diameter hollow-core and of 11.1%
of the beam strength, in addition to its participation in eliminated concrete gives the optimum decreasing in the
the sustainability process. In this research influence of concrete volume with a less decrease in cracking and ulti-
hollow-core diameter on the structural performance of mate load by 13.6% and 9.3% respectively as compared
hollow-core reinforced SCC beams has been investigated with the other beam specimens.
experimentally, as well as making a sustainability analysis

Table 8  Effect the size of Material B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6

longitudinal void on the
weight of the required Cement (kg) 4.5 4.26 4.19 4.12 4.00 3.86
materials of hollow-core
Gravel (kg) 10.05 9.51 9.37 9.21 8.94 8.63
concrete beams
Sand (kg) 12.75 12.07 11.88 11.68 11.34 10.94
Limestone (kg) 3.45 3.26 3.22 3.16 3.07 2.96
Superplasticizer (litre) 0.028 0.026 0.0258 0.0254 0.0246 0.0238
Water (litre) 3 2.84 2.79 2.75 2.67 2.58
Recycled plastic (kg) – 0.2 0.23 0.25 0.29 0.33
Total weight (kg) 33.78 32.16 31.70 31.19 30.33 29.32
Reduction in weight of the – 1.62 2.08 2.5846 3.45 4.46
beam (kg)

Table 9  Embodied Energy (EE) and carbon dioxide (­ CO2) emissions of the solid beam and hollow-core concrete beam
Material B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6
EE (MJ) Co2 (kg) EE (MJ) Co2 (kg) EE (MJ) Co2 (kg) EE (MJ) Co2 (kg) EE (MJ) Co2 (kg) EE (MJ) Co2 (kg)

Cement (kg) 27.72 4.47 26.23 4.23 25.84 4.17 25.4 4.1 24.65 3.98 23.8 3.84
Gravel (kg) 0.402 0.02 0.38 0.019 0.375 0.019 0.37 0.018 0.36 0.018 0.34 0.017
Sand (kg) 1.275 0.089 1.2 0.084 1.19 0.083 1.17 0.082 1.134 0.08 1.09 0.077
Total (kg) 29.397 4.579 27.81 4.333 27.405 4.272 26.94 4.2 26.144 4.078 25.23 3.934
Decrease* % – – 5.4 5.4 6.8 6.7 8.4 8.3 11.1 10.9 14.2 14.1
*
As compared with B1

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Increasing the longitudinal void diameter makes 5. Parthiban N, Neelamegam M (2017) Flexural behavior of rein-
hollow-core SCC beams more ductile and exhibits large forced concrete beam with hollow-core in shear section. Int Res
J Eng Technol (IRJET) 4(4):2263–2274
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Future works of this study may include flexural and 9. Jabbar S, Hejazi F, Mahmod HM (2016) Effect of an opening on
reinforced concrete hollow beam web under torsional, flexural,
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tudinal voids in an oval shape. ies on reinforced concrete hollow core sandwich beams. Int J
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Funding The authors did not receive support from any organization Eng Technol (IJCIET) 9(4):534–543
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Declarations self-compacted concrete deep beams. Case Stud Constr Mater
12:e00348
Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of 15. Abbass AA, Abid SR, Arna’ot FH, Al-Ameri RA, Özakça M (2020)
interest. Flexural response of hollow high strength concrete beams con-
sidering different size reductions. Structures 23:69–86
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