Flexural and Shear Performance of the Reinforced Beams made of Geopolymer Concrete: A review

Abstract

Geopolymer is known to have many structural and nonstructural benefits, but the attractive characteristic of this novel material is that it depends essentially on a byproduct from different industries, and the use of Portland cement is absent. This concrete is an environmentally friendly product and is essential as the sustainability issue is considered. Compared with the material properties, the behavior of reinforced concrete members made of geopolymer has gained less importance by past researchers. Therefore, this review paper aims to summarize the evidence of the structural behavior of geopolymer concrete beams to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of reinforced geopolymer beams. A total of sixteen published works on geopolymer beams reinforced with steel rebar have been reviewed, and it found that there are 83 beams tested in flexure and 29 beams tested to highlight the shear behavior. For comparison, some researchers have tested control beams made of Portland cement concrete (PCC). It is noted that geopolymer concrete (GPC) beams have a performance, in general, better than that of PCC beams in terms of strength and ductility. Design proposals for PCC beams could be safely used for GPC beams, and the software based on the finite element method accurately predicts the load-deflection response. However, further study is recommended to provide more detailed and cost-effective design methodologies for the potential use of GPC in large-scale field applications.

Keywords

• flexure
• geopolymer concrete
• reinforced concrete beam
• shear