Experimental Laboratory Evaluation of Durability Properties of Alkali-Activated Concrete Based on Blast Furnace Slag Used in Road Pavement

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Ph.D. in Civil, Department of Civil Engineering, Chalous Branch, Islamic Azad University, Chalous, Iran

Abstract

The use of concrete in road pavements has always been of interest to civil engineering scientists due to its numerous benefits. In recent decades, the production of alkali-activated concrete, which is environmentally friendly concrete, has attracted the attention of researchers. In this paper, a mix design of ordinary concrete containing 500 kg/m3 of Portland cement and a mix design of alkali-activated concrete containing blast furnace slag were made and the durability properties of the concrete were evaluated under water permeability and capillary water absorption tests at 7, 28 and 90 days of curing. Increasing the curing age of the concrete improved the results in all tests. In this regard, in ordinary concrete, the lowest permeability and capillary water absorption were obtained at 90 days of curing, with a height of 29 mm and a value of 0.13 cm/s1/2, respectively, which resulted in an improvement of 19.44 and 27.77 percent compared to the 7-day curing age, respectively. In geopolymer concrete, the lowest capillary permeability and water absorption values were obtained at a curing age of 90 days, with a height of 23 mm and a value of 0.071 cm/s1/2, respectively, which resulted in an improvement of 14.81 and 35.45 percent, respectively, compared to the 7-day curing age of concrete. At a curing age of 90 days (as the optimal age), the capillary permeability and water absorption values in alkali-activated concrete were improved by 20.68 and 45.38 percent, respectively, compared to conventional concrete. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of concrete samples overlapped with other tests in this study.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Journal of Transportation Infrastructure Engineering

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 09 July 2025

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 16 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 04 July 2025
  • Accept Date: 09 July 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics