Bond strength characteristics of fly-ash admixed selfcompacting alkali activated concrete mixes

Abstract

Bonding in any type of concrete plays a crucial role in the performance of reinforced concrete structures, which are profoundly determined by many factors such as concrete compressive strength, diameter, type and size of the bar along with length of embedment and confinement of concrete. Herein, an attempt has been made to develop fly-ash admixed self-compacting alkali activated slag concrete mixes cured under laboratory ambient conditions and to evaluate the bond strength characteristics using direct pull out test along with their bond stress-slip behaviour at the age of 28 and 56 days. These self-compacting alkali activated slag concrete mixes were developed using Fly-ash and GGBFS as the major principal binder. Naturally available river sand was used as the fine aggregate; 12.5 mm down size crushed granite chips (Jelly) constituted the coarse aggregate fractions in all these mixes. The alkaline solutions basically consisted of mixtures of sodium hydroxide flakes dissolved in the calculated quantity of water and mixed with the liquid sodium silicate solution. The experiments were planned based on Taguchi’s design of experiments methodology. A total of fifteen mixes were developed and evaluated for their flow ability characteristics as per the requirements of EFNARC guidelines along with compressive strength values at the age of 7, 14, 28 and 56 days. In an initial, calibration phase, bond strength characteristics of a set of nine mixes were utilized for performance evaluation purposes. Strength prediction equations were then derived on the basis of such results, whose predictive capacity was then evaluated and ascertained in the prediction phase with actual results of experiments on a set of three new mixes. Test results indicated higher flow ability characteristics for all the mixes satisfying the requirements as per the EFNARC guidelines. Higher compressive strengths values in the range of 46 – 85 MPa were obtained at the age of 56 days. Further acceptable bond strength values were obtained varying in the range of 8.0 – 14.5 MPa as compared to control OPC based reference concrete mix. © 2020, Associated Cement Companies Ltd.. All rights reserved.