Experimental Investigation on Fly Ash and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag-Based Geopolymer Corbels

Abstract

Cement is most consumed material after water (Gagg in Engineering Failure Analysis 40:114–140, 2014) due to the phenomenal growth in infrastructure, etc., which leads to huge consumption of cement as a building material. In this respect, geopolymer concrete can prove to be a decisive solution for the concrete industry as it can replace conventional cement in concrete. It also focuses on the disposal of industrial waste such as fly ash and ground granular blast furnace slag (GGBS) for use as a binder due to its chemical action with catalytic alkaline activator solutions to form inorganic molecules. Fifteen reinforced geopolymer concrete corbels with concrete grade M40 and different percentages of secondary reinforcement were cast and tested. Experimental shear strength test results are associated with several analytical and design codes. The test results showed that the strength in shear for geopolymer concrete was underestimated established on OPC concrete models. Most of analytical models are conservative in envisaging the shear capacity of GPC corbels. However, Hagberg (1983) and Euro Code 2 (2004) predict the best shear performance for GPC corbels.