11227_FP_Specification and Use of Geopolymer Concrete.pdf

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9th Austroads Bridge Conference, Sydney, New South Wales 2014 © ARRB Group Ltd and Authors 2014 1 SPECIFICATION AND USE OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE Fred Andrews-Phaedonos,VicRoads, Australia ABSTRACT Geopolymer concrete consists of similar ingredients as conventional concrete except that the cement is wholly replaced by industry by-products such as slag and fly ash and the chemical reaction is promoted by a concentrated solution of alk;ali-based chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate instead of the conventional hydration reaction. This makes geopolymer concrete a more environmentally sustainable product as it reduces carbon emissions by some 40 % to 80 % whilst maintaining the structural properties of conventional concrete. Whilst conventional concrete is characterised by the formation of calcium silicate hydrates (CSH), geopolymer concrete is characterised by an aluminosilicate (Si-O-Al-O) based microstructure. Although a significant amount of research has been undertaken in Australia over the past 10 to 20 years particularly in Victoria and Western Australia the take up of this technology from laboratory controlled production to on-site field work has been relatively slow. However, in more recent times, the need to reduce the carbon foot print in the construction sector is helping with the marketing, manufacture and supply of geopolymer concrete in some parts of Australia, particularly for lower risk applications. A number of barriers have been suggested as impediments to the wider acceptance of geopolymer concrete including technical, standardisation and regulatory barriers. However, use and monitoring of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads over the past five years has culminated in the definition of geopolymer concrete and inclusion in a number of standard VicRoads specifications, including general paving, reinforced concrete pipes and concrete pits. It is considered that the inclusion of geopolymer concrete in such specifications has assisted in the take up of geopolymer concrete in various commercial applications in Victoria including foundations, slabs and precast panels, and has acted as a precursor to its introduction into other areas of Australia. In general the use, monitoring and specification of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads are considered to provide at least one pathway for increased use of low carbon geopolymer concrete in Australia. This paper describes the evolution of geopolymer concrete from a trial material to its inclusion in a number of standard VicRoads specifications, through to commercial production and its use on more significant structures. INTRODUCTION Geopolymer concrete was first introduced into VicRoads as part of trial applications in 2009, namely, the in-situ construction of landscape retaining walls at a bridge site [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], the manufacture and installation of 180 precast footway panels across a bridge and construction of a significant length of footpath. Following satisfactory monitoring of the performance of these applications geopolymer concrete was defined and incorporated into the standard VicRoads specification Section 703 ”General Paving Works” in 2010 [6] as an equivalent product to Portland cement concrete. This was followed by the construction of approximately 2 km in length of footpath and bicycle path, kerb and channel, maintenance strip for wire rope safety barriers and guard rail, a shared user path, other general paving works and no- fines geopolymer concrete on major projects, achieving significant reductions in CO 2 emissions. A 450 metre long structural reinforced geopolymer concrete retaining wall which doubles as a raised planter bed to improve soil conditions for tree planting was constructed on the M80 Western Ring Road [7]. This project is the first full scale structural application for VicRoads (since the original trial structural applications of the landscape retaining walls and footway panels) and considered to be the first major in- situ construction on a major infrastructure project in Australia.

Transcript of 11227_FP_Specification and Use of Geopolymer Concrete.pdf

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    SPECIFICATION AND USE OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE

    Fred Andrews-Phaedonos,VicRoads, Australia

    ABSTRACT Geopolymer concrete consists of similar ingredients as conventional concrete except that the cement is wholly replaced by industry by-products such as slag and fly ash and the chemical reaction is promoted by a concentrated solution of alk;ali-based chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate instead of the conventional hydration reaction. This makes geopolymer concrete a more environmentally sustainable product as it reduces carbon emissions by some 40 % to 80 % whilst maintaining the structural properties of conventional concrete. Whilst conventional concrete is characterised by the formation of calcium silicate hydrates (CSH), geopolymer concrete is characterised by an aluminosilicate (Si-O-Al-O) based microstructure. Although a significant amount of research has been undertaken in Australia over the past 10 to 20 years particularly in Victoria and Western Australia the take up of this technology from laboratory controlled production to on-site field work has been relatively slow. However, in more recent times, the need to reduce the carbon foot print in the construction sector is helping with the marketing, manufacture and supply of geopolymer concrete in some parts of Australia, particularly for lower risk applications.

    A number of barriers have been suggested as impediments to the wider acceptance of geopolymer concrete including technical, standardisation and regulatory barriers. However, use and monitoring of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads over the past five years has culminated in the definition of geopolymer concrete and inclusion in a number of standard VicRoads specifications, including general paving, reinforced concrete pipes and concrete pits. It is considered that the inclusion of geopolymer concrete in such specifications has assisted in the take up of geopolymer concrete in various commercial applications in Victoria including foundations, slabs and precast panels, and has acted as a precursor to its introduction into other areas of Australia. In general the use, monitoring and specification of geopolymer concrete by VicRoads are considered to provide at least one pathway for increased use of low carbon geopolymer concrete in Australia. This paper describes the evolution of geopolymer concrete from a trial material to its inclusion in a number of standard VicRoads specifications, through to commercial production and its use on more significant structures.

    INTRODUCTION Geopolymer concrete was first introduced into VicRoads as part of trial applications in 2009, namely, the in-situ construction of landscape retaining walls at a bridge site [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], the manufacture and installation of 180 precast footway panels across a bridge and construction of a significant length of footpath. Following satisfactory monitoring of the performance of these applications geopolymer concrete was defined and incorporated into the standard VicRoads specification Section 703 General Paving Works in 2010 [6] as an equivalent product to Portland cement concrete. This was followed by the construction of approximately 2 km in length of footpath and bicycle path, kerb and channel, maintenance strip for wire rope safety barriers and guard rail, a shared user path, other general paving works and no-fines geopolymer concrete on major projects, achieving significant reductions in CO2 emissions.

    A 450 metre long structural reinforced geopolymer concrete retaining wall which doubles as a raised planter bed to improve soil conditions for tree planting was constructed on the M80 Western Ring Road [7]. This project is the first full scale structural application for VicRoads (since the original trial structural applications of the landscape retaining walls and footway panels) and considered to be the first major in-situ construction on a major infrastructure project in Australia.

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    This work was followed by the review of steel reinforced geopolymer concrete pipes manufactured by a major pipe manufacturer, including the associated test data which demonstrated compliance with the requirements of AS 4058 and standard VicRoads specification Section 701 Underground stormwater drains [8].

    As a result of the above work four standard VicRoads specifications have been amended to incorporate provisions for the use of geopolymer concrete as follows:

    Section 703 General Concrete Paving, geopolymer concrete defined and specified for use in kerb and channel, joint user paths, footpaths, driveways and other surfacing, as an equivalent product to conventional concrete for strength grades 20 MPa to 32 MPa

    Section 701- Underground stormwater drains, geopolymer concrete for use in the manufacture of Steel Reinforced Concrete Pipes as an equivalent product to conventional concrete pipes

    Section 705 - Drainage Pits, geopolymer concrete for use in the construction of both precast and in-situ drainage pits [9]

    Section 711 - Wire Rope Safety Barriers, geopolymer concrete for use in the construction of anchor blocks, post footings, maintenance strips and other associated concrete works [10].

    At this stage use of geopolymer concrete in lower risk structural applications with respect to the requirements of Section 610 Structural Concrete [11] may be considered on a job by job basis.

    SALMON STREET BRIDGE OVER THE WEST GATE FREEWAY-PRECAST GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE PANELS A total of 180 precast footway units based on a required equivalence to a concrete grade of VR470/55 as set out in Section 610 were manufactured and installed at the Salmon Street Bridge in 2009 [12] (Fig. 1). The full scale production and installation of the 180 units was completed within the same timeframe as achieved by conventional type concrete.

    Figure 1: Geopolymer concrete footway panels and footpath on Salmon Street Bridge.

    The in-service performance of the precast footway geopolymer panels has been visually monitored for over 5 years since installation. In general the precast geopolymer panels are performing satisfactorily with the surface finish looking good. The concrete colour as expected has changed to a light grey colour (resembling an off-white colour) given the fact that the slag component within the concrete mix would change colour from green following mixing and placement as a result of exposure to the environment. Its off-white colour is blending more with the rest of the bridge and its surrounding environment.

    However, out of a total of 180 units some eight of them were characterised by minor cracking of less than 0.15 mm. It is considered that this cracking would have been there since manufacture and installation

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    rather than in-service. Previous monitoring over the past five years identified the same cracking with no noticeable change or increase in the length or width of cracking detected. Structurally the precast footway geopolymer panels are considered to be performing very satisfactory without an evidence of distress.

    GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE RETAINING WALLS AT SWAN STREET BRIDGE

    Construction of two in-situ geopolymer concrete landscape retaining walls at the Swan Street Bridge over the Yarra River [1, 2, 3, 4, 5,13] (Fig. 2) in 2009 was undertaken utilising conventional techniques for formwork construction, concrete placement by pumping, compaction with a poker vibrator, finishing and curing with polyethylene plastic.

    In order to monitor the long term performance of the geopolymer concrete and enable monitoring of the corrosion state of the reinforcing steel, three MnO2 half-cell reference electrodes were also installed at the centre of each of the in-situ walls adjacent to the steel reinforcement at three different levels along the height of both the upstream (U/S) and downstream (D/S) walls (Fig. 2).

    Initial measurement of the potentials of the steel reinforcement against the reference electrodes commenced a few weeks after construction in 2009, and subsequently monitored on a regular basis. The measurements reveal that the half-cell potentials of the steel reinforcement became less negative with time [5] (Fig. 3), and have gradually stabilised at a level of -250 mV to -350 mV (CSE). Based on conventional criteria, it is unlikely that corrosion is taking place. At present, the middle and bottom parts of the U/S wall show slightly more negative potentials (-350mV) than its upper parts and the D/S wall (-250mV), most likely affected by the accumulation of moisture behind this part of the U/S wall due to gardening activities. The potential at mid-height and bottom of the U/S wall (-350mV) has been more or less stable over the past five years. Generally potentials may become even more positive, at least in some areas of wing walls, indicating that the corrosion risk is not significant at present.

    This is in agreement with results of very low penetrability to chloride ions (ASTM C1202) and very low chloride diffusion coefficient determent using the Nordtest Method NT Build 443. It should be noted however, that the VPV (volume of permeable voids) values to AS 1012.21 did not comply with the criterion of a maximum value of 16%, for structural concrete of VR400/40 grade as set out in Section 610 [11]. Nevertheless, it is argued that the higher VPV is not due to larger interconnected pore volume, but due to additional loss of water from the gel-like materials included in the geopolymer. It is likely that an excess amount of sodium silicate (which releases water as part of the chemical reaction) was used in the geopolymer formulation, which was not fully assimilated into the geopolymer binder and caused the high VPV. It is considered that further refinement of the geopolymer concrete mix design with the use of compatible water reducers and superplasticisers to reduce the amount of water in the mix will significantly reduce the VPV of the geopolymer concrete.

    Figure 2: Finished painted geopolymer concrete wall and installed reference electrodes.

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    Figure 3: Half-cell potentials of retaining walls of western abutment of Swan Street Bridge.

    CONSTRUCTION OF FOOTPATH AND BICYCLE PATHS AND NO-FINES GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE Significant lengths of footpath and bicycle path were constructed using 25 MPa geopolymer concrete in accordance with the geopolymer concrete requirements of Section 703. These footpaths including Brady Street, South Melbourne and Kings Road, Taylors Lakes (Fig 4) have been subject to ongoing visual monitoring since construction and considered to be performing in a very satisfactory manner without any detected cracking or other defects.

    Figure 4: Construction of footpath and bicycle path.

    No-fines geopolymer concrete has also been used on the M80 Western Ring Road Project as a granular back fill filter material to act as a B4 filter for subsurface drainage in accordance with the requirements of standard VicRoads specification Section 702 Subsurface Drainage (Fig 5).

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    Figure 5: No-fines geopolymer concrete used as a granular back fill filter material.

    GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE WALL, M80 WESTERN RING ROAD AND PRECAST FOOTWAY DECK PLANKS, LONGFORD BRIDGE This 450 metre long structural reinforced concrete retaining wall at the M80 Western Ring Road, was constructed utilising geopolymer concrete with a required equivalence to a concrete grade of VR400/40 as set out in Section 610 [11] (Fig 6). The structural features of the wall have been designed to complement the road network, challenge conventional concepts of the use of geopolymer concrete, and promote the use of innovative materials. All requirements of Section 610 were satisfied by the geopolymer concrete with the exception of the VPV requirements which were found to slightly exceed the specified requirements, for the same reasons as identified with the Swan Street Bridge retaining walls. This structural wall is the first full scale structural application for VicRoads following the successful monitoring of the original trial structural applications of the landscape retaining walls and footway panels undertaken in 2009, and considered to be the first major in-situ construction on a major infrastructure project in Australia.

    The chevron or zig-zag landscape retaining wall is near vertical and is also designed to double up as raised planter beds to improve soil conditions for tree planting. These beds will be filled with soil and mulched for native tree planting, which will complement the local councils street tree strategy. The aim is to improve amenity along the exposed north facing batters which currently consist of poor grass cover and where planting is difficult to establish. As evidence that geopolymer concrete can be used as an equivalent product to Portland cement based concrete it cannot escape the attention of graffiti vandalism (Fig 6).

    Two trial synthetic fibre reinforced geopolymer concrete (FRGC) precast footway deck planks (2.5 m x 2.8 m x 150 mm thick, also steel reinforced, grade VR400/40 equivalent) were also manufactured and installed in March 2014 on the pedestrian bridge over Long Waterhole near Longford in eastern Victoria, as part of long term monitoring of in-situ performance (Fig 6). Steel reinforced geopolymer concrete samples with variable concrete cover were also made for future monitoring.

    Figure 6: Landscape retaining geopolymer structural concrete wall and footway deck planks.

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    GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE PIPES Following previous development work, and more recent testing and assessment full scale production of steel reinforced concrete pipes has commenced by a Victorian pipe manufacturer as part of a fully integrated and automated operation, which facilitates the production of complying geopolymer pipes with equivalent performance to Portland cement based pipe, as prescribe in AS/NZS 4058 and Section 701 [14, 15]. Geopolymer pipes are shown in Fig. 7.

    Proof and ultimate load testing and water absorption results shown in Table 1 and Table 2 demonstrate that geopolymer concrete pipes are as good as conventional cement based pipes and are in compliance with the requirements of AS/NZS 4058. In addition, the VPV test results shown in Table 2 demonstrate that the VPV value of both the geopolymer and conventional concrete mixes comply with the requirements of VPV for concrete cores as specified in Section 610 for structural concrete. This was achieved through the use of a more refined geopolymer concrete mix design suitable for an accelerated pipe manufacturing environment. Proof and ultimate load testing is shown in Fig. 7.

    The technical performance of geopolymer pipes is further complimented by additional features which also apply to conventional pipes, as covered by AS/NZS 4058 including:

    Low water/cementitious material ratio

    High cementitious material content

    High compaction

    Very tight dimensional tolerances.

    Following the satisfactory testing and assessment and review of actual products, geopolymer concrete pipes have been introduced into Section 701 as equivalent products to conventional cement based pipes.

    Table 1: Proof and Ultimate Load

    Pipe Type

    First crack kN/m

    Proof Load kN/m

    AS/NZS4058 Min. Proof Requirement kN/m

    Ultimate Load kN/m

    AS/NZS4058 Minimum Ultimate Requirement kN/m

    Geopolymer Pipes 65 85

    30 - 50

    125 45 - 80

    Conventional Pipes 55 80 120

    Table 2: Average Absorption and VPV Values

    Pipe Type

    Average Absorption %

    AS/NZS4058 Max Allowable %

    VPV %

    Maximum VPV Values at 28 days, (%) for core, Section 610

    Geopolymer 5.5 5.8 6 15.0 15.5 rounded down

    15

    Conventional 5.0 5.5 6 11.5 12.5 rounded down

    15

    As a result of the acceptable test results a range of diameters and classes ranging from 375 mm to 750 mm of geopolymer concrete pipes were subsequently supplied and installed at the Princess Highway

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    Duplication at Winchelsea in south western Victoria (Fig. 8), in accordance with the requirements of Section 701. The VicRoads acceptance of geopolymer pipes has also resulted in other installations including drainage works in Harley Street, City of Greater Bendigo and Bendigo Airport in Victoria.

    Figure 7: Geopolymer concrete pipes stored and tested following manufactured.

    Figure 8: Geopolymer concrete pipes stored on site and during installation.

    GEOPOLYMER STRUCTURAL CONCRETE WALLS AT DUDLEY STREET RAILWAY BRIDGE The construction of structural reinforced soil and post and panel walls at Dudley Street Bridge in Melbourne which is part of the Regional Rail Link works, proceeded following review and acceptance of the geopolymer concrete mix design in accordance with the VicRoads concrete mix design registration procedures for compliance with Section 610 [16].

    The geopolymer concrete mix design for these panels was based on a required equivalence to a concrete grade of VR400/40 as set out in Section 610. The confidence to proceed with these structural works was based on previous successful use by VicRoads at Swan Street Bridge, M80 Western Ring Road, Salmon Street Bridge and the provision of geopolymer concrete into VicRoads standard specifications.

    The two metre wide precast panels are characterised by a variable height of between two to four metres, with some two thirds of the panels exhibiting a rough textured finish with the remainder having a flat surface finish (Fig. 9).

    The panels are fully manufactured to the requirements of Section 610 including concrete manufacture, handling, placement compaction, finishing and curing. In addition, the subsequent lifting of the finished products from the moulds, storage, transporting and on site handling and erection are no different to conventional concrete.

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    Figure 9: Geopolymer retaining concrete panels for Dudley street bridge.

    GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE USED IN OTHER APPLICATIONS Following the initial VicRoads trials and provision of geopolymer concrete in Section 703 use of geopolymer concrete steadily increased in general paving and commercial applications. Such applications include significant amounts of footpath, kerb and channel, footings and associated paving works in local areas (Fig 10). At least one local council is looking to follow the VicRoads lead and officially allow the use of geopolymer concrete as part of their general concrete paving requirements.

    Commercial construction includes a library building which utilised precast panels. The panels are around 9m high and 3m wide, with a strength grade of 40 MPa and were sand blasted to expose the quartz pebble. The panels were manufactured with a rebate in them to remove the need for window frames [15, 16]. On site geopolymer concrete work for this site included footings and general paving. Upcoming potential projects include multi-storey residential buildings which are looking to utilise significant amounts of geopolymer concrete as part of their green construction.

    VicTrack Access, a State owned enterprise allows the use of 32 MPa geopolymer concrete for the construction of protection post and marker post footings in VicTrack Access specification TS-SP-013 Issue 3G with reference to Section 703, as part of their desire to take advantage of its sustainability credentials including low embodied carbon.

    Figure 10: Building constructed with precast geopolymer concrete and general paving.

    PROVISION OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE IN VICROADS STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS

    Section 703 General concrete paving

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    Geopolymer concrete has been introduced into Section 703 on the basis that Portland cement concrete and geopolymer binder concrete are equivalent products. This was the first specification with geopolymer concrete provisions. In order to facilitate the compliant use of this type of concrete a number of definitions relating to the material components have been introduced as follows:

    Alkaline Component: Combinations of alkali and alkali earth containing salts, minerals and glasses

    Cementitious Material: Portland cement or a mixture of Portland cement with one or more of Fly Ash, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBF Slag), or Amorphous Silica complying with the requirements of AS 3582.1, AS 3582.2 and AS 3582.3 respectively

    Geopolymer Binder: Binder containing greater than 80% Fly Ash, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBF Slag) or Amorphous Silica complying with the requirements of AS 3582.1, AS 3582.2 and AS 3582.3 respectively, metakaolin and up to 20% alkaline components

    Geopolymer Concrete: Concrete which comprises geopolymer binder, aggregates, water and admixtures.

    The minimum compressive strength requirements for each grade of geopolymer binder concrete are consistent with normal class Portland cement concrete and they cover 20 MPa, 25 MPa and 32 MPa.

    The general construction requirements including the placing, compaction, finishing, curing and sampling and testing of geopolymer concrete is the same as conventional concrete. However, due to the greater susceptibility of geopolymer concrete to unsatisfactory practices compared to conventional concrete, the general manufacturing and delivery practices for geopolymer concrete as stated in Section 703 are more in line with the more stringent requirements of Section 610.

    Section 701 Underground stormwater drains Given that geopolymer concrete and its various components have been specified and defined in Section 703, Section 701 cross-references to those requirements. In order to capture the requirements of Section 703 concrete pipes have been defined as follows:

    Precast Reinforced Concrete Pipes: pipes manufactured from Portland cement-based concrete or geopolymer binder-based concrete as specified in Section 703. In the context of the manufacture of reinforced concrete pipes, Portland cement concrete and geopolymer binder concrete are equivalent products.

    Geopolymer binder-based precast reinforced concrete pipes are required to comply with the requirements of AS 4058 and Section 701, except that the concrete used must comply with the requirements of Section 703 for geopolymer concrete with compressive strengths appropriate to the nominated load class performance requirements as stated in AS 4058.

    Section 705 Drainage pits Geopolymer binder-based concrete as defined in Section 703 may be used for the construction of drainage pits provided the supply of geopolymer concrete and construction comply with the requirements of Section 610 and satisfy the concrete grade requirements as stated in Section 705, namely,

    Drainage pits reinforced with steel reinforcement minimum concrete grade VR330/32

    Precast drainage pits using fibre reinforcement minimum concrete grade VR450/50.

    Concrete mix designs must be registered in accordance with the requirements of Section 610, and re-registered on an annual basis, unless mix components change prior to the expiry of registration.

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    Section 711 Wire Rope Safety Barrier (WRSB) Geopolymer binder-based concrete must comply with the requirements of Section 703 and manufactured to comply with the minimum 28 day compressive strength requirements for each strength grade ranging from 20 MPa to 32 MPa as stated in Section 711.

    The strength grades of geopolymer concrete which are to be used in the construction of anchor blocks, post footings, maintenance strips and other associated concrete works are specifically identified.

    PROPERTIES OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE Geopolymer concrete used on VicRoads works and other associated projects has been able to comply with the various property requirements of Section 703 and Section 610 including compressive strength, the required strength development (for timely formwork removal and lifting from moulds in the case of precast components) and drying shrinkage (375 to 730 microstrain < 750 microstrain at 56 days) [1, 2, 3]. The only property that has difficulty with compliance is the VPV values which exceed the maximum allowable limits as specified in Section 610, although the VPV of one concrete mix used for geopolymer pipes demonstrated compliance with the maximum VPV requirements of Table 610.061, due to the refinement of the mix design to facilitate the manufacturing requirements (refer Section 6).

    Test data reported for similar proprietary geopolymer concretes by Aldred and Day [17] suggests that geopolymer concretes in general tend to have higher tensile (4.5 MPa for 32 MPa and 6.0 MPa for 40 MPa mixes ) and flexural strength (6.2 MPa for 32 MPa and 6.6 MPa for 40 MPa mixes) relative to the compressive strength compared to Portland cement based concrete. In addition, Aldred and Day report that for similar proprietary geopolymer concretes the elastic modulus (31.8 GPa for 32 MPa and 38.5 GPa for 40 MPa mixes) is comparable to Portland cement based concrete, whereas the Poissons ratio of 0.20 to 0.24 is slightly higher than would be expected for Portland cement based systems.

    Wallah [18] reported that fly ash-based geopolymer concrete undergoes low creep, with specific creep after one year loading, ranging from 15 to 29 x 10-6/ MPa for the corresponding compressive strength of 40 to 67 MPa and as with Portland cement based concrete, specific creep decreases as the compressive strength increases. The creep coefficient after one year of loading for fly ash based geopolymer concrete with compressive strength of 40 to 57 MPa was found to be around 0.6 to 0.7, while for geopolymer concrete with compressive strength of 67 MPa this value is around 0.4 to 0.5. These values were found to be around 50% of the values predicted for Portland cement based concrete.

    With regards to the higher VPV in geopolymer concrete Shayan, Xu and Andrews-Phaedonos [3, 4] argue that the higher VPV is not due to larger interconnected pore volume, but due to additional loss of water from the gel-like materials present in the geopolymer concrete. It is likely that as part of the desire to achieve the required mechanical properties, excess amounts of sodium silicate are used in the geopolymer formulation. These excess amounts of sodium silicate do not fully assimilate into the geopolymer binder and remain as a hydrous gel, which loses water during the drying phase of the VPV test and cause the value of the VPV to appear high. This is consistent with large amounts of water-soluble alkali found in the geopolymer concrete and further confirmed by SEM/EDX examination.

    Shayan, Xu and Andrews-Phaedonos further suggest that this argument is in agreement with the very low chloride penetrability results (ASTM C1202) and very low chloride diffusion coefficient, determined for the Swan Street Bridge geopolymer concrete using the NT Build 443 test method.

    Shayan, Xu and Andrews-Phaedonos also suggest that a further possibility is that the relatively large amount of water used in the proprietary geopolymer concrete mix [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] actually resulted in sodium silicate gel deposited in capillary pores, such that they did not allow transport of chloride ions, yielding a low chloride diffusion coefficient. Use of a suitable super-plasticiser would have reduced the amount of water in the concrete mix and resulted in a lower value of VPV.

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    Shayan, Xu and Andrews-Phaedonos conclude that the implication of this finding is that correct amounts of sodium silicate activator should be used in geopolymer concrete formulations such that free alkali is not available to cause AAR in the presence of reactive aggregate. Also, compatible superplasticisers should be used for better workability and to reduce the amount of water in the mix, which would result in acceptable values of VPV.

    SUMMARY A significant amount of chemical and technical research has taken place into geopolymer concrete both locally and overseas, as part of a desire to take advantage of its sustainability credentials including low embodied carbon. It is considered that the initial VicRoads trials some five years ago of both lower risk structural and general paving applications have served as the major impetus for significant progress in the commercialisation of geopolymer concrete both in Victoria and other parts of Australia. As a result of this initial work geopolymer concrete has been used in other lower risk structural applications such as retaining walls, precast reinforced soil panels, precast building panels, concrete pipes, precast reinforced concrete beams, footings and slabs, footpaths, joint user paths, kerb and channel, no-fines concrete and other general paving applications.

    This progress has been greatly aided by the provision for geopolymer concrete as an equivalent product to conventional concrete in the VicRoads standard specification Section 703 for general concrete paving in 2010, followed by its introduction into Section 701 for reinforced concrete pipes, Section 705 for drainage pits and Section 711 for concrete works associated with wire rope safety barriers. In addition, use of geopolymer concrete in lower risk structural applications may be considered on a job by job basis with respect to the requirements of Section 610 for structural concrete.

    As a result of these geopolymer concrete specification initiatives another Victorian state owned enterprise, VicTrack Access, has allowed the use of 32 MPa geopolymer concrete for the construction of protection post and marker post footings in their specification TS-SP-013 Issue 3G with reference to Section 703.

    It is considered that the definition and provision of geopolymer concrete in VicRoads standard specifications serves to overcome the barriers created by the unfamiliarity of this new material and the entrenched use of conventional concrete over the decades. It further provides the confidence and pathway required by designers, contractors and asset owners and managers to specify and use low carbon geopolymer concrete.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author wishes to thank VicRoads for permission to publish this paper. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VicRoads.

    REFERENCES 1. Andrews-Phaedonos, F. 2011. Geopolymer green concrete: reducing the carbon footprint. The

    VicRoads experience. 8th Austroads Bridge Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, October 2011.

    2. Andrews-Phaedonos, A. (2012), Reducing the carbon footprint The VicRoads experience, Concrete in Australia, Vol.38, No.1, pp.40-48.

    3. Shayan, A, Xu, A & Andrews-Phaedonos, F. (2013), Field application of geopolymer concrete: a measure towards reducing carbon dioxide emission 26th Biennial Conference, Concrete Institute of Australia, October, Gold Coast, Australia.

    4. Shayan, A, Xu, A & Andrews-Phaedonos, F. (2014), Investigation of a geopolymer concrete used in retaining walls of a bridge, 36th ICMA Conference, Milan, Italy.

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    5. Shayan, A and Xu, A, ARRB Group (2014), Monitoring Measurements of geopolymer concrete, Swan Street Bridge 2013- 2014, Contract Report No. 007919

    6. VicRoads Standard Specification (2013), Section 703 General concrete paving.

    7. Structural reinforced concrete landscape retaining wall M80 Western Ring Road, Sunshine Ave to Furlong Road (2013), VicRoads Intranet and Exchange.

    8. VicRoads Standard Specification (2013), Section 701 Underground stormwater drains.

    9. VicRoads Standard Specification (2013), Section 705 Drainage pits.

    10. VicRoads Standard Specification (2013), Section 711 Wire Rope Safety Barrier.

    11. VicRoads Standard Specification (2013), Section 610 Structural Concrete.

    12. Andrews-Phaedonos, F. "Monitoring of Salmon Street Bridge Precast Geopolymer Concrete Footway Panels", VicRoads Internal Report, 2013

    13. Andrews-Phaedonos, F. Shayan, A, Xu, A. (2013), Use of Corrosion Monitoring Sensors to Monitor the In-Situ Performance and Intervention needs in Reinforced Concrete Structures 26th Biennial Conference, Concrete Institute of Australia, October, Gold Coast, Australia.

    14. Communication with RCPA Pty Ltd.

    15. Communication with Zeobond Pty Ltd.

    16. Communication with ACM Pty Ltd.

    17. Aldred, J & Day, J. (2012), Is geopolymer concrete a suitable alternative to traditional concrete?, 37th Conference on Our World in Concrete & Structures, August, Singapore

    18. Wallah, S.E. (2010) Creep Behaviour of Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer Concrete/Civil Engineering Dimension (CED), Vol. 12, No. 2, September, pp. 7378.

    AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Fred Andrews-Phaedonos is the Principal Engineer-Concrete Technology at VicRoads and is a Past President of the Concrete Institute of Australia. He is also the Chairman of the Australian Technical Infrastructure Committee (ATIC). He has worked for VicRoads for 37 years, mainly in the bridge and concrete related areas. He has been a technical specialist for many years in the areas of concrete technology, concrete durability, precast, repair, rehabilitation and protection of concrete structures and Lead Auditor in all aspects of construction. He has a great interest in emerging and innovation technologies. He is an active member of several Standards Australia, AUSTROADS, ACI and FIB technical committees and has been involved in the organising of international conferences. He served as Chairman of the Technical Committee for the Concrete Institute of Australia Conference, Concrete 2005.He is the author and co-author of many published papers.

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    SPECIFICATION AND USE OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETEABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONNo-fines geopolymer concrete has also been used on the M80 Western Ring Road Project as a granular back fill filter material to act as a B4 filter for subsurface drainage in accordance with the requirements of standard VicRoads specification Section 7...

    Figure 7: Geopolymer concrete pipes stored and tested following manufactured.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTAUTHOR BIOGRAPHY