PERFORMANCE OF ALKALI ACTIVATED REINFORCED SLAG CONCRETE : IN TERMS OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES WITH EMPHASIS ON SIZE EFFECT OF PUNCHING SHEAR

The need to meet sustainable development is now an important challenge to the cement industry. The production of OPC is responsible for about 7% of the world’s carbon dioxide emission a major contributor to the greenhouse effect which is implicated in global warming and climatic changes lead to the search for a more environmentally viable alternative to cement. One of those alternative materials is alkali-activated slag (AAS) where ground granulated blast furnace slag is used not as partial replacement to cement but as a sole binder in the production of concrete. The overall aim of the study was to investigate the potential of alkali-activated slag as the sole binder in producing concrete. The performance of alkali-activated slag concrete with sodium silicate with hydrated lime sodium hydroxide sodium carbonate as an activator is used at 4%  Na2O (by weight of slag) and 4% of hydrated lime by weight of solid binder content if used as a retarder. The scope of the work covered four mixes: a normal OPC mix three AAS slag mixes of the same binder content and the same water binder ratio.