International Journal of Urban Management and Energy Sustainability

International Journal of Urban Management and Energy Sustainability

An Intelligent Approach Using the Experimental Study of Geopolymer Self-Compacted Concrete and Implementing an Intelligent Image Processing Techniques for the Rehabilitation of Building

Document Type : Case Study

Authors
Mansour Keshavarzi 1
Towhid Pourrostam 2
Mohammad Reza Javaheri Tafti 1
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Taft. C., Islamic Azad University, Taft, Iran
2 Department of Civil Engineering, CT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/ijumes.2026.743890
Abstract
Self-compacting geopolymer concrete can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete construction while removing the need for vibration, but the effects of fiber reinforcement on its hardened properties and shrinkage, and practical tools for checking the composition of hardened geopolymer concrete, remain limited. This study evaluated GGBS-based SCGPC reinforced with steel fibers, polypropylene fibers and their hybrid combination and compared it with corresponding self-compacting concrete mixtures. Twelve mixtures were tested for water absorption, compressive and splitting tensile strength at 7 and 28 days, and drying shrinkage. In addition, an image-processing procedure based on HSV colour segmentation and pixel counting in Python was developed to quantify the phases exposed on sawn sections of hardened geopolymer concrete. SCGPC showed lower water absorption and lower shrinkage than SCC. With 1% steel fibers, SCGPC reached 36.03 and 40.04 MPa at 7 and 28 days, 4.4% and 1.9% higher than the steel-fiber SCC, and showed the lowest shrinkage. PP fibers slightly reduced the 7-day strength, and the hybrid mixture had a 28-day strength 8.4% lower than its SCC counterpart. The geopolymer mixtures reached splitting tensile strengths of 3.0–3.8 MPa, compared with 2.9–3.3 MPa for SCC. Image analysis separated bright and dark regions, covering 71.15% and 28.85% of the section, respectively. Fiber-reinforced SCGPC, particularly with steel fibers, is therefore a viable low-shrinkage alternative to SCC, and image analysis offers a rapid, low-cost means of checking hardened geopolymer concrete in rehabilitation assessments.

Graphical Abstract

An Intelligent Approach Using the Experimental Study of Geopolymer Self-Compacted Concrete and Implementing an Intelligent Image Processing Techniques for the Rehabilitation of Building

Highlights

·         Steel, PP and hybrid fibers reinforced GGBS-based SCGPC.

·         Steel-fiber SCGPC reached 40.04 MPa at 28 days with the lowest shrinkage.

·         SCGPC showed lower water absorption and drying shrinkage than conventional SCC.

·         SCGPC splitting tensile strength (3.0–3.8 MPa) exceeded that of SCC.

·         HSV image segmentation quantified aggregate and matrix phases in hardened SCGPC.

Keywords
Fiber reinforcement
ground granulated blast furnace slag
image processing
Self-compacting geopolymer concrete
shrinkage
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  • Receive Date 04 January 2026
  • Revise Date 08 March 2026
  • Accept Date 25 May 2026