illustrates that the initial stiffness of the composite
beams is higher than that of the control R/C
beam. The control R/C beam cracked at a load of 9.79
kN (2.2 kips), whereas all composite beams have an
initial crack at a load of 17.79 kN (4.0 kip). The
cracking behavior indicates that all cracks propagated
in the region of maximum moment, i.e., within the two
loading points. The peak load for the composite beams
ranged between 26.69 and 33.36 kN (6 and 7.5 kips).
However, once the composite ferrocement layer develops
a major crack, the beam capacity drops to 17.79
kN (4 kip) and behaves similar to the control R/C
beam. It was also observed that the steel rebar has
already yielded at failure