Geopolymer Concrete: A Sustainable and Economic Concrete via Experimental Analysis

Abstract Geopolymer concrete is a sustainable, economical, eco-friendly, and high-strength concrete. The GPC utilizes industrial solid wastes like flyash and slag as binding material and is activated by the alkaline solution containing NaOH and Na2SiO3 in the design mix. The experimental investigation analyzes both GPC and OPC concrete's physical and mechanical properties for the same mix design and analyzes the concretes cost and sustainability. After the experimental investigation, the GPC and OPC concrete's compressive strength shows similar trends at the 28 days strength, but the initial three days strength of the GPC strength is much higher than the OPC concrete, but around 28 days, the compressive strength of concrete mix got similar. The splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of the GPC specimens are slightly higher than the OPC concrete mix specimens. The OPC concrete's elastic modulus is slightly higher than the GPC mix design, whereas the Poisson ratio of the OPC concrete is slightly lower than the GPC mix designs. The GPC has less embodied energy compared to the OPC concrete. The cost of the GPC at a bulk level reduced the cost of up to 40% of the OPC concrete.