Experimental and FEA-based Performance Evaluation of Geopolymer Versus OPC Concrete

Abstract

The rising environmental concerns associated with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) have accelerated the development of sustainable binders such as geopolymer concrete (GPC), produced from industrial by-products like ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). This study presents a combined experimental and numerical investigation of GPC, focusing on its mechanical and structural performance. Laboratory testing on cylindrical, cubic, and beam specimens provided compressive, tensile, and flexural strength data, which were processed in MATLAB to derive input parameters for nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) in ABAQUS. The numerical model, developed using the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) approach, incorporated experimentally validated stress–strain relationships. Results revealed that GPC outperformed OPC, exhibiting 14.6% higher compressive strength and 17.5% lower deflection, with von Mises stress and load-deflection analyses confirming enhanced load-bearing capacity and reduced crack propagation. The simulation outcomes closely matched experimental data, maintaining discrepancies within 10%. Overall, the integration of MATLAB and ABAQUS proved effective for predicting GPC performance, reinforcing its potential as a sustainable alternative to OPC in structural applications.