Development of Geopolymer-Based Cement and Soil Stabilizers for Transportation Infrastructure

Geopolymer Cement (GPC) has drawn much attention in the recent years as an alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for soil stabilization, pavements, bridges and other transportation structures due to their good mechanical properties in comparison to OPC. In addition, GPC can be processed at room temperatures from aqueous solutions of waste materials (e.g. fly ash) or abundant natural sources (e.g. clay), thereby significantly reducing CO2 production associated with processing of OPC. As such, GPC proves to be a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative than OPC. This research explores methods to develop GPC with desired properties and evaluate their durability characteristics as part of their long-term performance based on real service conditions when exposed to significant water intake during flooding or torrential rainfall. Teams from Texas A&M University (TAMU) and University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) collaborated in this study to understand GPC, propose different methods to synthesize GPC, and to effectively synthesize a GPC composition.Tran-SET Project No. 18CTAM0