Flexural behavior of geopolymer-concrete beams longitudinally reinforced with GFRP and steel hybrid reinforcements

Abstract

This paper presents the flexural behavior of geopolymer-concrete beams longitudinally reinforced with a hybrid of glass-fiber-reinforced-polymer (GFRP) and steel bars. Seven geopolymer-concrete beams with different ratios and configurations of GFRP-to-steel reinforcement were designed, cast, and tested up to failure using the four-point static bending test. Based on the experimental results, the hybrid beams showed better serviceability and ductility and up to 15% higher strength than their counterpart geopolymer-concrete beams reinforced solely with GFRP bars. Increasing the reinforcement ratio increased overall beam performance. The hybrid beams reinforced with steel bars at the top and wi..