Tension Stiffening and Cracking Behavior of Axially Loaded Alkali-Activated Concrete
- Publisher:
- MDPI
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Materials, 2023, 16, (11), pp. 4120
- Issue Date:
- 2023-05-31
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Alkali activated concrete is an eco friendly construction material that is used to preserve natural resources and promote sustainability in the construction industry This emerging concrete consists of fine and coarse aggregates and fly ash that constitute the binder when mixed with alkaline activators such as sodium hydroxide NaOH and sodium silicate Na sub 2 sub SiO sub 3 sub However understanding its tension stiffening and crack spacing and width is of critical importance in fulfilling serviceability requirements Therefore this research aims to evaluate the tension stiffening and cracking performance of alkali activated AA concrete The variables considered in this study were compressive strength f sub c sub and concrete cover to bar diameter C sub c sub d sub b sub ratios After casting the specimen they were cured before testing at ambient curing conditions for 180 days to reduce the effects of concrete shrinkage and obtain more realistic cracking results The results showed that both AA and OPC concrete prisms develop slightly similar axial cracking force and corresponding cracking strain but OPC concrete prisms exhibited a brittle behavior resulting in a sudden drop in the load strain curves at the crack location In contrast AA concrete prisms developed more than one crack simultaneously suggesting a more uniform tensile strength compared to OPC specimens The tension stiffening factor of AA concrete exhibited better ductile behavior than OPC concrete due to the strain compatibility between concrete and steel even after crack ignition It was also observed that increasing the confinement C sub c sub d sub b sub ratio around the steel bar delays internal crack formation and enhances tension stiffening in AAC Comparing the experimental crack spacing and width with the values predicted using OPC codes of practice such as EC2 and ACI 224R revealed that EC2 tends to underestimate the maximum crack width while ACI 224R provided better predictions Thus models to predict c
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