Fire resistant geopolymer concrete incorporating local alkali-silica reactive rocks (ST-27)

Reinforced concrete (RC) structure is widely used all around the world because of its strong compressive strength and tensile strength. The tensile strength comes mainly from the steel reinforcement bars provided at the tensile side of the structural while the concrete cover acts as a protection for the bars from the external elements such as weather exposure. However, the downside of reinforced concrete is that once the concrete has been broken down due to reason such as corrosion and high heat. It is inevitable to observe cracks and spalling. The exposed steel reinforcement bars rapidly lose its strength to withstand the tensile loading. In which, the failure of the reinforcement bars can eventually result in the failure of the entire structure at ultimate limit state. This kind of brittle failure mode jeopardizes the safety of the personnel working in the building and often leave little to no reaction time for them to escape. Hence, having a binder mix that can retain its strength and protect the steel reinforcements under high heat is crucial in underground structures as the rescue operation is more difficult and often requires more time for the emergency response team to conduct the rescue mission in such environment. In this research, several experiments were done to investigate and study 1) the compressive and residual strength of alkali geopolymer binder mix without aggregates using 100mm diameter by 200mm tall and 50mm by 50mm cube samples, 2) the compressive and residual strength as well as the fire resistant of the alkali geopolymer concrete with normal aggregates of different size range. Concrete samples using various mix design were tested in groups of at least 3 to cater for consistency, these samples undergo compressive strength test and high heat testing using the furnace and the results were compared and analysed.Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering