Engineering properties of steel fibre reinforced geopolymer concrete

Abstract

Engineering properties such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio of geopolymer concrete (GPC) and steel fibre reinforced geopolymer concrete (SFRGPC) have been obtained from standard tests and compared. A total of 15 specimens were tested for determining each property. The grade of concrete used was M 40. The percentages of steel fibres considered include 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1%. In general, the addition of fibres improved the mechanical properties of both GPC and SFRGPC. However the increase was found to be nominal in the case of compressive strength (8.51%), significant in the case of splitting tensile strength (61.63%), modulus of rupture (24%), modulus of elasticity (64.92%) and Poisson's ratio (50%) at 1% volume fraction of fibres. An attempt was made to obtain the relation between the various engineering properties with the percentage of fibres added.