Integration of green concrete in steel-concrete composite beams

![CDATA[To mitigate the existing alarming situation of harmful greenhouse gases emission and extensive utilisation of natural resources from cement production, a promising solution is to incorporate by-product materials such as fly ash to produce green concrete known as geopolymer concrete (GPC) and high volume fly ash concrete (HVFA). However, despite that fly ash is a promising substitute binder for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) to produce concrete, it is not being utilised to its full potential for structural applications. Thus, for the purpose of this experimental study, green concrete will be introduced to steel-concrete composite construction. The experimental testing will include casting of composite beams with GPC and HFVA concrete mix, and an OPC concrete as a reference mix designed according to British Standards (BS 8500). A total of six composite beams are designed and prepared according to Australian Standards 2327.1 (2003) to determine their ultimate flexural capacity. From the test results, it was found that fly ash based green concrete has great potential to be used as an alternative option for larger structural application as compared to ordinary concrete. This is because, beams with geopolymer concrete achieved less than 2% difference in ultimate load carrying capacity and specimens with HFVA achieved 11% higher ductility index as compared to specimens with ordinary concrete.]]