Experimental Study on the Performance of Strength and Sorptivity of Fiber Reinforced Alkali Activated Geopolymer Concrete

Abstract

The possible alternate to the conventional OPC concrete is geopolymer concrete. The manufacturing of geopolymer concrete is low CO2 emissions and low energy utilization than the OPC concrete. The present study investigates the addition of polypropylene fibers and the basalt fibers in 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% in the geopolymer concrete. The geopolymer concrete specimens are tested for compressivestrength, split tensile strength and flexural strength. The results revealed that the addition of fibers enhanced the strength properties of geopolymer concrete. Addition of 1.5% polypropylene fibers and 1.5% basal fiber in hybrid has attained higher strength characteristics than the geopolymer concrete mix without fibers and with single fiber in the geopolymer concrete. Hybrid Fiber reinforced geopolymer concrete with 50%flyash and 50%GGBS, 1.5% polypropylene fibers and 1.5% basalt fibers has attained 19.40%, 19.35% and 10% higher compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength with reference geopolymer concrete without fibers at 28 days. This research explores the influence of polypropylene, basalt, and hybrid fibers on the mechanical and durability aspects of geopolymer concrete. Theintroduction of fibers resulted ina decrease in workability, withpolypropylene fibers showing a more noticeable impact compared tobasalt fibers. Incorporating polypropylene, basalt, and hybrid fiberssignificantly improved compressive strength, with the hybrid formdemonstrating the highest enhancement. Additionally, split tensile andflexural strength were positively affected by the addition of fibers,especially in the hybrid form, where basalt fibers exhibited superior splittensile and flexural strength properties compared to polypropylene fibers. Geopolymer concrete with basalt fibers displayed a higher modulus of elasticity, and the hybrid mix exhibited improved structural characteristics. Ultrasonicpulse velocity (UPV) values indicated a superior pore structure in the hybrid mix, showing a strong linear correlation between UPV