Flexural and Shear Behaviors of Reinforced Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete Beams

The material properties of cement-zero concrete using alkali-activators have been studied extensively as the latest response to reduce the CO2 exhaust of the cement industry. However, it is also critical to evaluate the behavior of reinforced concrete beams made of alkali-activated slag (AAS) concrete in terms of flexure and shear to promote the applicability of AAS concrete as structural material. Accordingly, nine types of beam specimens with various ratios of tensile steel and stirrup were fabricated and subject to bending and shear tests. The results show that the flexural and shear behaviors of the reinforced AAS concrete members are practically similar to those made of normal concrete and indicate the applicability of the conventional design code given that the lower density of slag is considered. In addition, a framework using the elastic modulus and stress-strain relation from earlier research is adopted to carry out nonlinear finite element analysis reflecting the material properties of AAS concrete. The numerical results exhibit good agreement with the experimental results and demonstrate the validity of the analytical model.