This paper presents an experimental investigation on the mechanical properties and microstructure of geopolymer repair materials mixed using fly ash (FA) and concrete substrates. An optimal combination of FA and concrete substrate was determined using the compressive test of geopolymer mortar mixed with various concrete substrate classes. It was found that the contribution of (C35/45) concrete substrates with the FA geopolymer mortar increases the 28-day bonding strength by 25.74 MPa. The microstructure analysis of the samples using scanning electron microscopy showed the denser structure owing to the availability of high calcium and iron elements distribution. These metal cations (Ca2+ and Fe3+) are available at OPC concrete substrate as a result from the hydration process reacted with alumina-silica sources of FA and formed calcium aluminate silicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) gels and Fe-bonding linkages.

Setting time in geopolymers is known as the time taken for the transition phase of liquid to solid of the geopolymer system in which is represented in the initial setting and final setting. Setting time is significant specifically for application in the construction field. This study intends to determine the setting time of high calcium fly ash geopolymers and the properties of the geopolymers after setting (1-day age). This includes the determination of heat evolved throughout geopolymerization using Differential Scanning Calorimeter. After setting properties determination includes compressive strength and morphology analysis at 1-day age. High calcium fly ash was used as geopolymer precursor. Meanwhile, for mixing design, the alkali activator was a mixture of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide (concentration varied from 6M-14M) with a ratio of 2.5 and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 2.5. From this study, it was found that high calcium fly ash geopolymer with 12M of NaOH has a reasonable setting time which is suitable for on-site application as well as an optimal heat evolved (–212 J/g) which leads to the highest compressive strength at 1-day age and no formation of microcracks observed on the morphology. Beyond 12M, too much heat evolved in the geopolymer system can cause micro-cracks formation thus lowering the compressive strength at 1-day age.

This paper details a finite element analysis of the behaviour of Si-Al geopolymer concrete beam reinforced steel bar under an impulsive load and hyper velocity speed up to 1 km/s created by an air blast explosion. The initial torsion stiffness and ultimate torsion strength of the beam increased with increasing compressive strength and decreasing stirrup ratio. The study involves building a finite element model to detail the stress distribution and compute the level of damage, displacement, and cracks development on the geopolymer concrete reinforcement beam. This was done in ABAQUS, where a computational model of the finite element was used to determine the elasticity, plasticity, concrete tension damages, concrete damage plasticity, and the viability of the Johnson-Cook Damage method on the Si-Al geopolymer concrete. The results from the numerical simulation show that an increase in the load magnitude at the midspan of the beam leads to a percentage increase in the ultimate damage of the reinforced geopolymer beams failing in shear plastic deformation. The correlation between the numerical and experimental blasting results confirmed that the damage pattern accurately predicts the response of the steel reinforcement Si-Al geopolymer concrete beams, concluded that decreasing the scaled distance from 0.298 kg/m3 to 0.149 kg/m3 increased the deformation percentage.