Durability of Fly Ash–Based Geopolymer Structural Concrete in the Marine Environment
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 6
Abstract
The use of supplementary cementitious materials as partial replacements of the cement in concrete will play a significant role with respect to the environmental control of greenhouse effects and global temperature reduction. The development of geopolymer concrete (GPC), in which all of the portland cement is replaced with fly ash (in combination with sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions), offers a promising alternative to ordinary portland cement concrete. This paper evaluates the durability characteristics of low-calcium fly ash–based geopolymer concrete that was subjected to a corrosive marine environment. A series of GPC beams, which contained fly ash with 8- and 14-M concentrations of NaOH and solutions, respectively, and were centrally reinforced with a 13-mm rebar, were tested for accelerated corrosion exposure with wet and dry cycling in artificial seawater and an induced current. A sudden rise in the current intensity that is attributable to specimen cracking was indicative of durability. The test results indicated excellent resistance of the geopolymer concrete to chloride attack, with a longer time to corrosion cracking relative to ordinary portland cement concrete.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers thank Mr. A. Tipnis, Contracting Specialists, Pompano Beach, Florida, for his valuable support with material and equipment costs, and S. S. Rajpathak, SRI Consultants, for his generous support with equipment and technical advice.
References
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2011). “Building code requirements for structural concrete and commentary.” 318-11, Detroit.
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2012). Rep. on the use of raw or processed natural pozzolans in concrete, Detroit.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test method for flexural strength of concrete (using simple beam with three-point loading).” C78-09, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2010). “Standard practice for calculation of corrosion rates and related information from electrochemical measurements.” G102-89, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2011). “Standard test method for splitting tensile strength of cylindrical concrete specimens.” C496-11, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012a). “Standard specification for chemical admixtures for concrete.” C494-12, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012b). “Standard specification for coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolan for use in concrete.” C618-12a, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012c). “Standard specification for portland cement.” C150-12, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2012d). “Standard terminology relating to concrete and concrete aggregates.” C125-12a, West Conshohocken, PA.
Davidovits, J. (2008). Geopolymer chemistry and applications, 2nd Ed., Institut Geopolymere, St. Quentin, France.
Deventer, J. V., and Provis, J. L. (2009). Geopolymers: Structure, processing, properties and industrial applications, CRC, Boca Raton, FL.
Florida DOT. (2000). “Florida method of test for an accelerated laboratory method for corrosion testing of reinforced concrete using impressed current.” FM 5-522, Tallahassee, FL.
Gjorv, O. E. (2009). Durability design of concrete structures in severe environments, Taylor and Francis, New York.
Hardjito, D., and Rangan, B. V. (2005). Development and properties of low-calcium fly ash-based geopolymer concrete, Curtin Univ. of Technology, Perth, Australia.
Muntingh, Y. (2006). “Durability and diffusive behavior evaluation of geopolymeric material.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Nordtest. (1989). Nordtest method, Espoo, Finland.
Sahmaran, M., Li, V. C., and Andrade, C. (2008). “Corrosion resistance performance of steel-reinforced engineered cementitious composite beams.” ACI Mater. J., 105(3), 243–250.
Wallah, S. E., and Rangan, B. V. (2006). “Fly ash-based geopolymer concrete.”, Curtin Univ. of Technology, Perth, Australia.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 12, 2012
Accepted: Jun 28, 2012
Published online: Aug 28, 2012
Published in print: Jun 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.