Flexural Behaviour of Geopolymer Slabs Strengthened with Galvanized Iron Meshes

Cement is an important construction material that significantly increases global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The need to strengthen structures and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has grown in the recent years. Geopolymer is an eco-friendly and sustainable cement-less material which is one of the most advanced forms of concrete. Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Fly Ash (FA), two industrial byproducts, are combined with alkaline solutions to form geopolymer. However, geopolymer is a brittle material and must be flexural strengthened. The primary goal of this work is to strengthen the brittle geopolymer slab with Galvanised Iron meshes and to study the flexural behaviour of strengthened geopolymer slabs. One-way slabs of dimension 750 mm × 300 mm × 40 mm and two-way slabs of dimension 750 mm × 500 mm × 40 mm were cast with one and two layers of Galvanised Iron mesh. All slabs were tested through a Four-point loading scheme to evaluate the flexural capacity of the slab. First crack load, crack width, crack pattern, maximum deflection, ductility, ultimate load, toughness, and energy absorption were the parameter studied in this work. The comparison is done between slabs with meshes and the control specimen (Geopolymer slab without mesh). Software analysis was carried out using ABAQUS software and the results were validated with experimental value. The slab tested under four-point loading showed improved flexural strength, ultimate load, maximum deflection, toughness, and energy absorption with a decrease in average fracture width as a result of the additional strengthening layers.