Abstract
This paper presents the flexural behaviour of concrete containing ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) as a binder, manufactured sand (M-sand) as a fine aggregate, and coconut shell (CS) and crushed stone aggregate (CSA) as coarse aggregates. Alkaline activator sodium hydroxide with 10 molarity and sodium silicate were used in a weighing proportion of 1 : 2.5 to produce structural grade concrete. Out of 12 beams cast, 6 were used to study geopolymer coconut shell concrete (GPCSC) beam behaviour and 6 were used to study geopolymer conventional concrete (GPCC) beam behaviour. Data presented include cracking behaviour, ultimate moment capacitates, deflection behaviour, ductility ratio, and end rotation of the beam. Laboratory investigations show encouraging results, and it can be summarized that coconut shell has good potential as a coarse aggregate for the production of structural grade geopolymer lightweight coconut shell concrete.
Highlights
Infrastructure development plays a major role in the country’s economic growth, and it leads to greenhouse effects
A systematic study has been carried out to study the flexural behaviour of lightweight geopolymer coconut shell concrete (GPCSC) and the results were compared to the geopolymer conventional concrete (GPCC)
Since the concave and convex surfaces of the coconut shell aggregate are smooth, bond failure may occur during testing in GPCSC concrete [10]
Summary
Infrastructure development plays a major role in the country’s economic growth, and it leads to greenhouse effects. It is epitomized that the quality is the major concern in using alternative material for fine aggregate which can be achieved using M-sand [4, 5] Disposal of this abundantly available coconut shell (CS) generated from the coconut industries creates an undesirable effect on the land causing huge environmental impact. A systematic study has been carried out to study the flexural behaviour of lightweight geopolymer coconut shell concrete (GPCSC) and the results were compared to the geopolymer conventional concrete (GPCC) Performance aspects, such as load-carrying capacity, crack width, ductility ratio, ultimate moments, deflections, strains, and end rotation of the beam different stages, were studied. Performance aspects, such as load-carrying capacity, crack width, ductility ratio, ultimate moments, deflections, strains, and end rotation of the beam different stages, were studied. e failure modes were recorded for the beams. e paper compares the performance of lightweight geopolymer coconut shell concrete beams to conventional geopolymer concrete beams
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