Geopolymer concrete made of river water and river sand

Geopolymer concrete made of river water and river sand

Supervisors

• Mohamed Elchalakani
  Senior Lecturer, Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

Students

• Jessica Anstiss
• Rafe Newsome
• Liam Flynn

Project Description 

The production of every ton of cement contributes to production of one ton of CO2 which is very harmful to the environment. With the increase in the development of infrastructure projects in marine environment represented in coastal zones of Australia, the need for a durable and sustainable concrete is also increasing. The coal based power plant produces huge quantity of fly ash, which creates its disposal problems. However to some extent, the fly ash is used as partial or recently full substitution to cement to make a promising solution namely, “geopolymer concrete.” The alkali activated fly ash and slag geopolymer Concrete shows considerable promise for application in the construction industry as an alternative to the Portland cement for its well-known resistance to acid attack. Day by day the scarcity of silica sand and fresh water is big challenge arising to the construction industry. On the other hand the sea sand is available in huge quantity, but the presence of salt and chloride affects the strength and durability of cement concrete. In present experimental work the river sand and river water will be used as an alternative to silica sand and fresh water to investigate the properties of the newly developed geopolymer concrete. The effects of the river sand and river water on the mechanical strength and durability of geopolymer concrete will be investigated in depth. 

Impact

New high performance zero-cement geopolymer concrete will be developed which has high resistance corrosion from the sulphates and chlorides in the Swan River.