Compressive stress-strain model for low-calcium fly ash-based geopolymer and heat-cured Portland cement concrete

This research focuses on elucidating the present knowledge gaps in geopolymer concrete's engineering properties, specifically its stress-strain behaviour. Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is an emerging alternative to ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPCC), and is produced via a polycondensation reaction between aluminosilicate source materials and an alkaline solution. As a relatively new material, many engineering properties of geopolymer concrete are still undetermined. In this paper, the compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and stress-strain behaviour of ambient and heat-cured GPC and OPCC have been studied experimentally. A total of 195 geopolymer concrete cylinders and 210 Portland cement concrete cylinders were tested for the above mentioned characteristics. Based on the experimental results, constitutive models describing the complete stress–strain behaviour in uniaxial compression have been developed for the low-calcium fly ash-based geopolymer concrete and the heat-cured Portland cement concrete.