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This paper is related to a laboratory program for the shear strength of reinforced concrete corbels (RCC) cast with or without recycled aggregate (RA) by investigating the main parameters affecting the corbels behavior including the replacement aggregate recycling ratio, fcu, and shear span to effective depth ratio a/d. Eight specimens were cast and tested. The obtained results were compared with ACI and EC2 codes. It is found that the ACI code and E2 code give sensibly conservative results when compared with the findings of the present work for all tested specimens regarding RA, concrete strength, and a/d. Also, the experimental results show that the presence of recycled aggregate decreases slightly both cracking and failure loads. Furthermore, the failure load development due to the effect of compressive strength is more effective with the presence of recycled aggregate, and the 50% ratio of RA was the suitable ratio in elaborate crack and failure loads. Finally, the reduction of the span-depth ratio (from 0.50 to 0.35) increases the crack and failure load by 8.1% and 20.2%, respectively, leading to confirm that the corbel strength is much sensitive to decreasing span-depth ratio compared to the associated deflections.

Basrah is considered as the economic capital of Iraq. In recent years, it showed a rapid growth in population and, accordingly, an increasing investment in construction industries. This paper presents information about the geotechnical characteristics of Basrah soil. For this purpose, geotechnical data have been collected covering wide areas of the city. The study area was divided into two zones, one of them was further divided into three subzones. For each of the zones considered, geotechnical information including typical soil profiles, Standard Penetration Test (SPT-N) values, Atterberg limits, sieve analysis results, consolidation test results and other physical aspects were given. Furthermore, chemical analysis of Basrah soil was also presented. According to field and laboratory results, soils in this region can be classified into two distinct zones. The eastern zone, which mainly forms of soft and medium cohesion soils extended from the soil surface down to a depth of (16 – 26) m, and, the western zone, which can be identified by the sandy surficial and stratigraphic soil.

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