Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Experimental and finite element modelling of reinforced geopolymer

concrete beam
S. Venkatachalam a,⇑, K. Vishnuvardhan a, G. Dheeran Amarapathi a, S.R. Mahesh b, M. Deepasri a
a
Kongu Engineering College, Department of Civil Engineering, 638060 Erode, India
b
PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research, Department of Civil Engineering, 641062 Coimbatore, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experimental details procured from the resultant strain and stress of steel and concrete which form the
Received 23 October 2020 major components of geo-polymer concrete beam. While this method is creates real time behavior, it is
Received in revised form 10 November 2020 enormously time utilizing, and the use of materials can be quite expensive. Computer software simula-
Accepted 13 November 2020
tion would aid in future development of the geo-polymer concrete members. The study is to examine the
Available online xxxx
performance of the geo-polymer concrete (GPC) beam, in the various conditions of crack such as initia-
tion, penetration and pattern, flexural strength, load–deflection and other mode of structure failure
Keywords:
which exhibits the realistic behaviour when the actual material is used to create the FE model. This work
Geo-polymer reinforced concrete beam
Finite element analysis
is express the importance of FE modelling in structural element analysis. It can shows the behaviour of
Crack propagation geo-polymer concrete beam until failure. It also gives comprehensive results of the element under critical
Flexural behaviour of GPC beam distribution of stresses and effective strains in member and steel reinforcement in the members. To
examine the flexural behaviour of geo-polymer concrete beams using three dimensional FEM analysis.
Particularly focused on the failure surfaces of geo-polymer reinforced concrete beam and also the phys-
ical properties of flexural cracking behaviour of the beam. Procured results from the analytical calculation
using ACI codes are compared with FEM analysis. This investigation is to evaluate the incremental loading
conditions with respect to the time until failure. In this paper, we are going to analyze the behaviour
under reinforced geo-polymer concrete beam with help of the computer analysis which is fail in flexure.
The accessibility of nonlinear models with the help of available computer software. Finite element soft-
ware simulation for structural members is cost effective.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Mechanical, Electronics and Computer Engineering 2020: Materials Science.

1. Introduction accurate characteristics of the structure. but is time taken and

Finite element analysis (FEA) is widely utilized engineering
method of the analysis the structure in the world today. Engineers
used the FEA to examine how a practical calibration will respond to
the various loading conditions. FEA is a software used for the ana-
lysis of structures which includes all types of steady flow or cyclic
loads, mechanical or thermal. This numerical investigation used to
observe the estimated solutions. Comparably finite element analy-
sis gives 90 to 95 percentage exact results than further modes of
analysis [1-3]. expenses and time consumption during the experi-
mental calibration [4].Flexure behaviour of the beam provides the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: venkatcivil.civil@kongu.edu (S. Venkatachalam).
expensive. The created and simulated beam having size 1500mm
150mm100mm to observed the flexural behavior, compressive
and tensile stresses in the transverse loading conditions. The
results procure from the ANSYS are fully dependent on mesh size,
materials properties, load increments, etc [5]. The geo-polymer
concrete (GPC) is the promising alternative binder construction
material instead of cement and it leads to sustainable develop-
ment. GPC structural element failure modes are reported which
same manner in the OPC. Moreover, it was concluded that Geo-
polymer Concrete could be used in structural elements without
any worries, because it provides acceptable mechanical properties
are studied [7]. Ambily. P.S., et al. [8] investigated destructive test
on SS beam and load–deflection and crack pattern results of that
beam. Finally they concluded with that results obtained from the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.449
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical, Electronics and Computer Engineering 2020:
Materials Science.

Please cite this article as: S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al., Experimental and finite element modelling of reinforced
geopolymer concrete beam, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.449
S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

computer modelling compared with the experimental data which Table 2

results very close to the laboratory test and it is a acceptable alter- Chemical Properties of Fly Ash.

native method to analyze the beam.The accuracy of created model Composition Content
is successfully compared in the both numerical and experimental . SiO2 5.6
Also, the load–deflection curves are compared blatant with results Al2O3 23.51
of experiment [9].Geo-polymer concrete (GPC) gives acceptable Fe₂O3 4.39
data which can provide as an alternative to cement. Therefore, CaO 0.83
MgO 0.6
the consumption of GPC as an alternative for OPC highly reduces Na2O 0.39
CO2 which is released during cement manufacture. sodium silicate SO3 –
(Na2SiO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH)are act as binder material LOI 0.29
with the fly ash which creates an pollution free geo-polymer mixer
[10,11].Geo-polymer concrete beams exhibited excellent mechan-
ical properties such as stiffness, strength which are similar and Table 3
Sieve Analysis Test Results of Fine Aggregate.
time consuming than the conventional concrete beam[12]. Khan,
H. U., et al. [13]work proceed towards discrete model of approach Sieve size % weight retained Cumulative % weight retained
to modeling and identifying the shear cracks [13].To find the criti- 4.75 mm 0 0
cal crack areas and deflections of model has been analysed using 2.36 mm 4 4
different load condition[14]. Hassan et al [15] investigated to find 1.18 mm 24.5 28.5
600 l 18.7 47.2
the impact of transverse openings in opertion of reinforced con-
300 l 43.5 90.7
crete beams. The flexural capability of beams by using flyash[16]. 150 l 8.5 99.2
Ibrahim [17]investigation shows creep and fire exposure of consti- <150 l 9.3 100
tutive models in the effect of time dependent. Compression and Fineness modulus 2.69
flexural strength of the geoploymer concrete were tested by the
method of ambient curing and durability of the concrete lso deter-
mined[18-21]. The composition of geopolymer matrix were highly Table 4
Properties of Coarse Aggregate.
influenced on the strength of the beam while consuming fly ash for
complete replacement of the cement[19]. THE strength test were Property Results
conducted in the specimen where the geopolymer concrete Specific Gravity 2.82
beam,some percentage of fine aggregate replaced by the red mud Water absorption 7%
[20]. Bulk density(kg/m3) 1120
Model the geo-polymer reinforced concrete beam which exhi-
bits the nonlinear behavior until the failure, made numerical anal-
ysis it reduces the expenses and is speedy than the laboratory Table 5
Mix Design Proportion
testing. It is critical to realize that excuting the material which
shows the better mechanical properties and other characteristics Volume of concrete By weight(Kg)
are more actual as in the experimental calibration. Fly ash 7.8
Sodium hydroxide(pellets) 0.253
Sodium silicate 0.78 L
2. Experimental investigation
Coarse aggregate 17.47
Fine aggregate 13.1
2.1. Material

2.1.1. Fly ash
Fly ash is a mixed by-product from the coal combustion proce-
dure which used in power stations. It is spherical shaped particles
with a fine grey powder having that rise with the flue gases. Poz-
zolanic materials and lime component in the fly ash form the
cementatious material (fly ash). The chemical and physical proper-
ties are given in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively.
2.1.2. Fine aggregate
M Sand used as affine aggregate instead of river sand with
sieved size of 2.36 mm. Fine Aggregate properties such as specific
gravity and fineness modulus were evaluated as per the IS 383–
1970 methods. The specific gravity is 2.69 and fineness modulus
results are given below table 3.
nowadays using some test manuals are given in the table 4[22]
Table 5.
2.1.4. Sodium hydroxide
A solid sodium hydroxide (NaOH) having visual characteristic
such as colorless with crystalline nature and white deliquescent
solid which melts at 318 °C without decomposition. NaOH is sol-
uble in H2O and polar solvents. Insoluble in ether and non– polar
solvent. specific gravity of a NaOH is 2.13.
2.1.5. Sodium silicate
The locally available product in the form of water solution or
solid. Due the presence of iron- containing contaminant, frequently
appeared in the colour of greenish or blue.

2.1.3. Coarse aggregate 2.2. Mix proportions and mix details

Generally available aggregate of size 20 mm were consumed
and the various investigation are carried out on the aggregates Geo-polymer Concrete mix for design in this study has devel-
oped for M25 grade with M12 molarity.
Table 1
Physical Properties of Fly Ash. 2.3. Test

Properties Value
2.3.1. Compressive strength
Finesses modulus (retained on 90 lm) 8.3 The compressive strength of concrete found according to Indian
Specific gravity 2.24
standard 516:1959.
2
S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

2.3.2. Experimental test setup
The model is 1500 mm long , with cross-sectional size of
100 mm  200 mm. The steel reinforcement provided at the bot-
tom of beam is 2–10 mm diameter and the steel reinforcement
at top of beam is 2–10 mm diameter, 8 mm diameter stirrups @
150 mm c/c as loaded at l/3 distance from the both ends and sup-
port condition are shown in Fig. 1.
In our concrete laboratory, tests were executed at lab tempera-
ture and the testing arrangements was shown in Fig. 2. The 2pt
loads were applied on 1.5 m span of Control Beam (CB) through
the hydraulic jack with capacity of 42KN and displacement is
arrested in all direction at both ends. The beams were properly
instrumented for measuring of mid span deflects with help of Dial
guage. Due to the point load, a crack is initiated at the tension zone
along Y-direction. The crack gradually increases and the concrete
gets failure at the ultimate load of 47.3kN with deflection 7.72kN
are shown in the Fig. 3.
3. Numerical investigation
The modeling of simply supported geo-polymer concrete is con-
ducted out using finite element software; ANSYS 18.0. The similar
finite elements selection are described in this section.
3.1. Element type selection
The three-dimensional element type (hexahedra) SOLID 65 with
8 nodes at each corner which have 3 translation degrees of arrest-
ment at each node is selected from ANSYS 18.1 library to be used in

Fig. 1. Details of Loading & Supports Condition.

Fig. 2. Experimental Set Up.

Fig. 3. Crack Pattern.

3
S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al.
modelling geo-polymer concrete material. This type is suitable to
simulate in the three orthogonal directions such as cracking behav-
ior of the geo-polymer concrete in tension zones(at bottom), as
well as the crushing in compression zones (at top) by processing
the concrete material non linearity performance. LINK 180 element
type used for model the vertical and a horizontal steel bar which is
procure from ANSYS 18.1 element library. This type facilitates the
linear deformation in the plane in which it is locate and also shows
y the non-linearity behaviour of those materials.
3.2. Material modeling
To implement the correlative behavior of the load dependent
brittle concrete material and the ductile steel reinforcement model
is not a easy work the FE model. Concrete itself, give a material
model in tension that is diverse from that in compression. Concrete
act as linear elastic in the initial , after that the nonlinear actions
shows the gradual stiffness softening at the second stage in the
compression region of concrete. Crushing of concrete takes place
as shown in Fig. 4 by non-metal plasticity until failure, after the
strain softening is controlled.
In the tension zone, Concrete behaves as linear elastic until the
concrete reach tensile strength. Concrete properties are listed in
Tables 6 and 7. Bilinear steel reinforcement material model
designed for both compression and tension side. Linear elastic up
to steel yield strength at all the stages are shown in Fig. 5. Another
stage of bilinear is hardening of linear kinematic strain, with some
percentage of steel elasticity assigned as a tangent modulus. Steel
properties are listed in Table 8.
3.3. Geometry and FE meshing
The geo-polymer concrete beam is constructed using two types
of elements solid 65 and LINK 180. Properly divide the concrete as
fine portion using size control command and also mesh the con-
crete by volume sweep command. Meshing of steel reinforcement
Fig. 4. Geo-Polymer Concrete Material Model.
Table 6
Concrete Properties Prior To Yield Surface
Material Material model Modulus of elasticityN/mm2 Poisson’s ratio
concrete Linear elastic 28293.7 0.2
Table 7
Concrete Parameters Beyond Yield Surface
Open Shear Transfer Co-efficient,Βt 0.2
Closed Shear Transfer Coefficient, Βc 0.8
Uniaxial Cracking Stress 3.40 Mpa
Uniaxial Crushing Stress, F’c 30 Mpa
4
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 5. Steel Material Model.
Table 8
Properties For The Steel Reinforcement
Material Model prior to initial yield surface Linear elastic
Poisson’s ratio t = 0.3
Yield stress, fy 500 MPa
Elastic modulus, Es 200Gpa
is done with help of line element. The meshing of the line element
nodes are compared with the volume element nodes to ensure the
coincidence of geo- polymer concrete and reinforcement nodes.
The details given in the section 4.2 are assigned for the elements.
After the meshing process two separate entities are merged as sin-
gle entity. Then, the developed finite element meshing is shown in
the Fig. 6.
3.4. Loads and boundary conditions
To get the unique solution for the constrained model displace-
ment boundary condition are needed. The loading and support
condition must be same as way in the experimental test and it is
a certain thing to ensure. The both load and boundary condition
need to be symmetry in all planes. The symmetry about both
planes are shown in Fig. 7.
3.5. Numerical-Experimental result comparison
Under the horizontal(transverse) load a simply supported geo-
polymer beam is analysed using FE model. Because of the point
load, the crack is initiated at the bottom which is knows tension
zone along Y-direction. The crack gradually increases and the con-
crete gets failure at the ultimate load of 47.3kN with deflection
7.72 mm (Fig. 3). The obtained failure load from FEM analysis is
similar to the experimental results such as 48kN with the deflec-
tion of 7 mm.(Fig. 8). The results procured is very close to the con-
ventional concrete when the same experiment is carried out for
geo-polymer concrete beam. Due to the increased stress value,
the crack initiates at the bottom portion of the beam (Fig. 9). The
stress in the concrete beam is increased gradually with respect to
the applied load. Dark yellow point out the maximum stress areas
(Fig. 10).
3.6. Crack pattern
Crack pattern procure from ANSYS 18.1model shown in the
Fig. 12.That is understandable that the failure modes forecast from
the FE analysis results acceptable with the experimental outcome.
Concrete tensile stresses attained modulus of rupture when the
applied load transcended cracking load of 11 kN and the initial
cracking of the geo-polymer concrete beam started at where the
vertical flexure crack occur. The first cracks take place at the
S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 6. Finite Element Model of Geo Polymer Concrete by ANSYS.

Fig. 7. Boundary Conditions For Planes of Symmetry.

Fig. 8. Load And Deflection Curve.

maximum moment region (Fig. 11). Flat and sudden flexural cracks Modulus of elasticity of steel, Es = 2e + 5 N/mm2.
and Flexural shear cracks appeared when the maximum load is Modular ratio, m = (2e + 5)/(2.5e + 4) = 8.
applied. Due to the continuous loading crack expanded and Equivalent increased portion of concrete at tension zone Ast =
increased in the maximum moment region. Expanded in the direc- (8 – 1)(2  78.5) = 1099.28 mm2.
tion of the compression zone when the cracking edge of the sup- Equivalent increased portion of concrete at compression zone
ports. A force of 47.3 kN, with a 7 mm mid-span deflection, steel Asc = (8– 1) x(2  78.5) = 1099.28 mm2.
reinforcement starts yielding. After steel yielding , cracking appar- Neutral axis depth,
ently spread and expanded close to the compression zone as Y = (20000 x75 + 1099.28  180 + 1099.28  20) / (20000
described in Fig. 12. + 1099.28 + 1099.28) = 77.5 mm.
Gross moment of inertia, bd3/12 = 6.67e + 7 mm4.
4. Theoretical investigation Transformed moment of inertia,
Itr = [(6.67e + 7) + 20000 x2.52] + (1099.28  102.52) +
Theoretical Investigation based on the reference [6] . (1099.28  57.52) = 8.2e + 7 mm4.
Maximum bending moment = 8.4e + 6 Nmm. Max compressive stress in concrete, f c = M y c/Itr = 7.93 N/
Modulus of elasticity of concrete,Ec = 2.5e + 4 N/mm2. mm2.

5
S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 9. Maximum Stress.

Fig. 10. Stress at Y-Direction.

Fig. 11. First Crack Pattern of Beam.

Fig. 12. Crack Pattern Just Before Failure.

6
S. Venkatachalam, K. Vishnuvardhan, G. Dheeran Amarapathi et al.
Max tensile stress in concrete, f t = M yt/ Itr = 12.5 N/mm2.
Comparative results of maximum stress in concrete theoretical
to finite element analysis
Maximum Compression Stress In Concrete,
Maximum compression stress of concrete at compression zone
is 7.93 N/mm2
Maximum tensile stress in concrete,
Maximum tensile stress of concrete at tension zone is 18.9 N/
mm2
5. Conclusion
Thus the project work was successfully done. Proper mix design
was executed. Based on the mix design concrete specimens were
casted various tests are conducted on the concrete specimens.
Optimum grade of geo-polymer concrete is determined. Reinforced
conventional and geo-polymer concrete beams was evaluated
using finite element model. Predictions of flexural failure, initial
cracking and yielding of the steel reinforcement of the beam were
compared with the experimental information obtained. A geo-
polymer concrete beam model was also created. All the above
results are compared to the theoretical results which values are
obtained from the coded method of calculation addition with the
self-weight. The coming to the end remarks of this project work
are given below :
6. After examination of the geo-polymer concrete beam
 According to the current study done, we reached a maximum
strength of 37.27 N/mm2 on 28 days when cement is replaced
with geo-polymer.
 The compressive strength of the geo-polymer concrete(GPC)
increases with increasing curing time.
7. Finite element analyses results of geo-polymer concrete
beam which is modeled in the FE
 Initial and serialized cracking of the FE model compared with
the experimental data procure from a geo-polymer concrete
beam with Deflections and stresses at the center line.
 The failure mechanism of a Geo-polymer concrete beam is cre-
ated using FEA, and the failure load measured during experi-
mental ‘testing was nearer to the failure load predicted in the
FE analysis.
 Comparative study of Load – deflection curves for specimen was
analyzed for both numerical and experimental results.
The results these study clearly shows that we can create the
proper nonlinear material model with the help of computer soft-
ware and also nonlinear behavior of that reinforced concrete struc-
tural elements with loading conditions upto the failure which
realistically simulate the results from the experimental testing.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
S. Venkatachalam: Methodology, Data curation, Validation,
Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing.
K. Vishnuvardhan: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing -
review & editing. G. Dheeran Amarapathi: Conceptualization,
Methodology, Supervision. S.R. Magesh: Methodology, Supervi-
sion. M. Deepasri: .
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
There is no financial support from Research Grant Scheme is
gratefully acknowledged.
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