Browsing by Author "R, Hemachandran"

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    PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE INCORPORATING SUGARCANE BAGASSE ASH
    (National Institute of Technology, Silchar, 2026) R, Hemachandran
    The increasing environmental impact associated with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) production has created a need for sustainable alternative construction materials. Geopolymer concrete has emerged as an eco-friendly material due to its lower carbon emissions and effective utilization of industrial and agricultural waste materials. In this study, Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA), an agricultural waste obtained from sugar industries, was used as a partial replacement for fly ash in geopolymer concrete to evaluate its mechanical and flexural behaviour under ambient curing conditions. Initially, geopolymer mortar cubes with different SCBA replacement levels were prepared to determine the optimum binder composition based on compressive strength. From the mortar optimization study, 20% SCBA replacement in the total binder content was identified as the optimum level. Based on the optimized mix, geopolymer concrete specimens and reinforced concrete beams were prepared using 20% SCBA, 30% fly ash and 50% GGBS. A geopolymer control mix containing 50% fly ash and 50% GGBS, along with conventional M30 grade concrete, was also prepared for comparison. The mechanical properties of concrete were evaluated through compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength tests at 28 days. The geopolymer control mix achieved a compressive strength of 42.8 MPa, while the SCBA-based geopolymer concrete attained 39.1 MPa, which was higher than the conventional concrete strength of 37.6 MPa. Geopolymer concrete specimens also exhibited improved tensile and flexural strengths compared to conventional concrete. The flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete beams was studied under four-point static loading conditions. The geopolymer concrete beams exhibited improved flexural performance, delayed crack initiation, stable crack propagation and good ductile behaviour compared to the conventional RCC beam. Analytical modelling carried out using ANSYS Workbench showed behaviour similar to the experimental investigation with acceptable variation in results. The study demonstrates that SCBA can be effectively utilized as a sustainable supplementary geopolymer binder material for reinforced concrete applications without significant reduction in structural performance