Reinforced brick concrete is the term used for the combination of concrete, brick and reinforcement used for construction purposes. Since concrete is very weak in tension, concrete at the portion below the neutral axis of slabs, beams, lintels, etc, do not participate in the tensile resistance of the structural member. It only acts as a filler element. In order to achieve economy, concrete in this zone (the tensile zone) may be replaced with bricks. This is known as reinforced brick concrete. The concrete in the tensile zone may also be replaced by tiles. Usually, dense cement mortar is used to embed the reinforcement which may be steel bars, expanded mesh, etc.