Experimental investigation and analytical modeling of reinforced Geopolymer concrete beam

Abstract

This paper presents the flexural response of Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete (RGPC) beam. A commercial finite element computer program ANSYS 12.0 has been used to perform a structural behavior of RGPC beam. Using various parameters like stress, strain and Poisson's ratio obtained from experimental results, a model has been created in ANSYS 12.0. Experimental based analysis has been widely used as a means to find out the response of individual elements of structure with reinforcement ratio of 0.87% and 1.75% for grades M20, M25, M30 and M35 with companion specimens like cylinders. The results from both ANSYS 12.0 modelling and experimental data were compared. The observation was mainly focused on RGPC beam behavior at different points of interest which were then tabulated and compared. Due to high stiffness of reactive geopolymer concrete, the actual deflections of the beams were found to be slightly low allowable values under service loads. In ANSYS 12.0 the deflection obtained was found to be low due to meshing of elements in the modeling. The comparative result gives 20% difference for experimental and ANSYS 12.0.