No abstract

Recently, short basalt fibres (BFs) have been gaining considerable attention in the building materials industry because of their excellent mechanical properties and lower production cost than their counterparts. Reinforcing geopolymer composites with small volumes of fibres has been proven an efficient technique to enhance concrete's mechanical properties and durability. However, to date, no study has investigated the effect of basalt fibers’ various lengths and volume content on self-compacted geopolymer concrete's fresh and mechanical properties (SCGC). SCGC is prepared by mixing fly ash, slag, and micro fly ash as the binder with a solid alkali-activator compound named anhydrous sodium metasilicate (Na₂SiO₃). In the present study, a hybrid length of long and short basalt fibres with different weight contents were investigated to reap the benefits of multi-scale characteristics of a single fibre type. A total of 10 mixtures were developed incorporating a single length and a hybrid mix of long (30) mm and short (12) mm basalt fibres, with a weight of 1%, 1.5% and 2% of the total binder content, respectively. The fresh and mechanical properties of SCGC incorporating a hybrid mix of long and short basalt fibres were compared to plain SCGC and SCGC containing a single fibres length. The results indicate that the hybridization of long and short fibres in SCGC mixture yields better mechanical properties than single-length BF-reinforced SCGC. A hybrid fibre coefficient equation will be validated against the mechanical properties results obtained from the current experimental investigation on SCGC to assess its applicability for different concrete mixes.

Short basalt fibres (BFs) have recently gained significant interest in the building materials sector due to their superior mechanical characteristics and cheaper manufacturing cost than other fibre types. Drying shrinkage and the early-age cracking of concrete are the root cause of many durability issues in the long run. Including small dosages of fibres within concrete composites has been shown as an effective technique to minimise drying shrinkage rates and reduce the crack widths developed due to plastic shrinkage cracking. Nevertheless, limited research studies have investigated the influence of short and long BFs with different dosages on the drying shrinkage rates and early-age cracking of geopolymer composites. In the present study, self-compacting geopolymer concrete (SCGC) using fly ash and slag as the binder is mixed with anhydrous sodium metasilicate powder as an alkali-activator. The study aims to investigate the influence of short (12 mm), long (30 mm) and hybrid-length (1:3 (short/long)) BFs with 1%, 1.5% and 2% dosages on the drying shrinkage properties and plastic shrinkage cracking of SCGC. The study results showed that adding BFs to SCGC reduces the drying shrinkage rates compared to plain SCGC, and SCGC reinforced with a 2% dosage of hybrid-length BFs recorded the lowest drying shrinkage rate. Two methods were used to measure crack widths: manual measurement (crack width gauge) and image analysis. No plastic shrinkage cracks were identified in mixes reinforced with 12 mm (1.5% and 2% dosages), 30 mm and hybrid-length BFs.

Composite slab systems have become increasingly popular over the last few decades because of the advantages of merging the two building materials, profiled steel sheets and concrete. The profiled composite slab’s performance depends on the composite interaction at the longitudinal direction of the concrete–steel interface. Geopolymer concrete has emerged over the last few years as a potential sustainable construction material, with 80% less carbon dioxide emissions than cementitious concrete. Recently, self-compacted geopolymer concrete (SCGC) has been developed, synthesised from a fly ash/slag ratio equal to 60/40, micro fly ash (5%), anhydrous sodium metasilicate solid powder as the alkali-activator and a water/solid content ratio equal to 0.45. The production of SCGC eliminates the need for an elevated temperature during curing and high corrosive alkali-activator solutions, as in traditional geopolymer concrete. The bond characteristics of the profiled composite slab system incorporated with the SCGC mix have not yet been thoroughly investigated. The cost-effectiveness of small-scale tests has popularised its usage by many researchers as an alternative technique to large-scale testing for assessing composite slab load shear capacity. In this paper, small-scale push tests were conducted to investigate the load slip behaviour of the SCGC composite slab compared to the normal concrete (NC) composite slab, with targeted compressive strengths of 40 and 60 MPa. The results indicate that SCGC has better chemical adhesion with profiled steel sheets than NC. Additionally, the profiled composite slab incorporated with SCGC possesses higher ultimate strength and toughness than the normal concrete composite slab.

The cell morphology of polymer foam shows an essential role in its functional attributes and its lightweight and thermal dependency cause diverse applications in building, utility lines and road structures. The most used polymer materials are flexible, structural and speciality foams. Phenolic foam, a member of speciality foam family, is produced through curing and expanding process with a composition of phenolic resin, surfactant, curing catalyst and blowing agent. The characteristics of phenolic foams (PF) in absorbing liquids and dissipating energy through collisions and shocks urge its application in road construction and airfield pavements. This chapter discusses the physical properties and the usages and benefits of PF for road and airfield pavements in the cold regions. The PF provides thermal efficiency and soft ground arrestor in pavements avoiding the overrunning of vehicles and aircraft. The open cell PF, as a geotextile layer in the permeable pavement systems (PPS), has also potential to retain and harvest rainwater. The PF layer under the porous friction asphalt of PPS delays the peak flow of rainwater during the extreme rainfall events and minimises the flooding risk.