Fracture parameters of flyash and GGBS based Alkali activated concrete

Abstract

In the world of concrete, Geopolymer concrete is an innovative and eco-friendly construction material which shall be produced by the chemical reaction of inorganic molecules to reduce CO2 emission and in engineering design safety is an essential parameter which needs to have greater attention when the failure consequences are severe. Cracking plays an important role in concrete structures by indicating major structural problems when subjected to loading. Fracture mechanics is a powerful tool for advanced study and the prime objective is to predict if a structure will fail or not by the presence of a crack. The study intends to assess the effect of the beam depth (75 mm, 150 mm and 300 mm) and molarities (6 M & 8 M) on the fracture parameters of geopolymer concrete beams. The geopolymer notched concrete beams were modelled using finite element analysis software (ANSYS 2021 R1) to study the fracture parameters of AAC. The fracture parameters like fracture energy, fracture toughness and stress intensity factor are investigated for the beams of varying sizes with varying notch depth ratios (ao/D = 0.15, 0.3, 0.45) defined as per RILEM specifications and analyzed under three-point bending test conditions using ANSYS. The results are obtained by developing the FEM model of beams using ANSYS. This study found that the fracture energy, fracture toughness and stress intensity factors values are increased with the increase in beam size & molarity and decreased with an increase of notch to depth ratio and it is also found that load-carrying capacity is decreased with the increase of notch depth to beam depth ratio.