Thermal Characteristics of fine grained concrete with various percentages of basalt fiber and GGBS.

The construction of energy-efficient buildings is very important as it can lower the energy consumed for construction and reduce the energy required for the heating and cooling effects of buildings and reduce the global warming caused by carbon emissions in buildings. It is therefore necessary to check the thermal characteristics of any construction material. Chopped Basalt Fiber (BF) is dispersed to the fine-grained concrete matrix and after determining the optimum percentage of fiber content cement is partially replaced in the matrix with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) by different percentages. GGBS helps in providing improved structural performance and also reduces the waste material generated by the steel industry. In addition, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is done to ascertain the thermal stability of the material when subjected to higher temperatures. The thermal conductivity of fine-grained concrete is determined to check the conductance of heat through the sample for thermal evaluation of the structure. Furthermore, the specific heat capacity, thermal resistance and thermal diffusivity of the material are also studied. The fine-grained concrete with basalt fiber and GGBS shows better thermal properties than controlled fine-grained concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]