Title: Optimization of Geopolymer Concrete by Principal Component Analysis

Author(s): Metwally Abd Allah Abd Elaty, Mariam Farouk Ghazy, and Mohamed Fattouh Abd El Hameed

Publication: Materials Journal

Volume: 114

Issue: 2

Appears on pages(s): 253-264

Keywords: brittleness; fracture properties; geopolymer concrete; mechanical properties; polypropylene fiber; principal component analysis

DOI: 10.14359/51689563

Date: 3/1/2017

Abstract:
This paper optimizes the properties of fiber-reinforced geopolymer concrete by principal component analysis. The approach is to first use the Latin Cube Orthogonal Array as an experimental plan to carry out the experiments. Four responses—namely, splitting tensile strength, critical stress intensity factor, fracture energy, and degree of brittleness—were conducted. Sodium hydroxide ratio, polypropylene fiber content, metakaolin replacement by mass of fly ash, and alkaline solution to binder ratio were chosen as control factors at three levels each. The single-response optimization of each response was conducted by the Taguchi method. To transform the correlated concrete properties, a principal component analysis was employed to correspond to multi-response cases. These principal components were accumulated further to calculate the multiple performance characteristic index (MPCI). Finally, a combined quality loss (CQL) was defined as the deviation of MPCI, which serves as the single-objective function for optimization with the aim to minimize it.