OUTCOME OF VARIATION OF NUMBER OF MESHES AND SIZE OF MESHES IN GEOFERROCEMENT

Abstract

Normally, conventional concrete is manufactured with Portland cement, which acts as a binder. The production of cement releases approximately an equal amount of C02 into the atmosphere.In view of this, there is a need to develop sustainable alternativesto Portland cement utilizing the industrial by products such as fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag which are Pozzolonic in nature. Geopolymer is produced without the presence of cement as a binder; instead, the base material such as fly ash, that is rich in Silicon (Si) and Aluminium (Al), is activated by alkaline solution to produce the binder. Hence Geopolymer mortar can be used instead of Cement mortar which will have no adverse effect on our environment. Ferrocement is an emerging technology that differs from conventional reinforced concrete by the manner in which the reinforcing elements are dispersed and arranged. It consist of closely spaced, multiple layers of wire mesh embedded in cement mortar. Experimental investigation was carried out to study the effect of Geopolymer mortar in Ferrocement for variation in mesh size and number of layers. For this, Flexure testing was conducted on Geo-ferrocement panel of 750 mm X 120 mm X 30 mm (thickness). Square slabs of dimension 230 x 230 x 30 mm were subjected to impact testing to observe the effect of reinforcement of mesh in different layers on impact energy absorption of slabs. Flexural strength of specimen with triple layer mesh is increased by around 190% than specimen with single layer mesh. From test results it was found that due to incorporation of mesh the impact resistance of the slab has increased as compared to slab without any mesh.