Characterisation of eco-friendly self-compacting geopolymer concrete for fire endurance properties

Infrastructure development is being undertaken at a very high pace throughout the entire globe. As we are heading towards urbanization there is a major problem of fire outbreaks in domestic households as well as in commercial complexes, either due to short circuits, minor explosion in the kitchen or due to any kind of flame ignition. At the same time, greenhouse gas emission is a major issue for the depletion of the ozone layer, and cement production is one of the primary contributors to carbon dioxide generation. It is when self-compacting geopolymer concrete comes into the picture because of its cementless concreting nature. In short geopolymer concrete is an eco-friendly sustainable potential replacement for OPC concrete. Geopolymer concrete performs very well under fire condition compared to the conventional ordinary portland cement (OPC) concrete. In this research, Geopolymer concrete specimen members are tested under controlled fire conditions under different temperatures, and the mechanical properties after fire exposure conditions are evaluated and compared with the conventional concrete members under the same conditions. The geopolymer concrete members are prepared using different percentages of fly ash and ground granulated slag (GGS) and in this investigation, the optimum amount of the fly ash to ground granulated slag ratio is found to be FA40:GGS60 (Fly ash 40% and Slag 60%) for the best performance under controlled fire conditions. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.