Experimental study of Steel-Concrete Composite Beams comprised of Fly ash based Geopolymer concrete

Abstract

To combat the present situation of greenhouse gases emission from cement production, a promising solution is to utilise supplementary cementitious by-product materials such as fly ash to produce green concrete known as Geopolymer concrete (GPC). However, despite fly ash based concrete is a promising substitute for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete, it is not yet being utilised to its full potential for structural applications.  And so, to utilise green concrete to its full potential, this paper aim is to conduct an experimental study that will integrate fly ash based concrete within steel-concrete composite beams. The research will include casting of composite beams with GPC mix, and an OPC concrete as a reference mix designed according to British Standards. To determine the ultimate moment capacity, a total of Four (4) composite beams comprised of coventional and Bondek steel profile concrete slab are designed and tested according to Australian Standards. From the test results, it was found that composite beam with conventionalconcrete slab outperformed the beams with Bondek profile sheeting. Also, regarding of ultimate bending moment capacity, the composite beam with geopolymer concrete experienced almost identical to OPC composite beam.