Although the application of blast furnace slag and fly ash-based alkali-activated concrete (BFS/FA-AAC) has both economic and environmental benefits, it is limited by the lack of a straightforward mix design method. In this paper, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of control factors, including the Na₂O/binder ratio, the SiO₂/Na₂O ratio, the BFS/binder ratio, the water/binder ratio, and the water content on the workability (slump and rheology) of BFS/FA-AAC, and the effect of control factors include the Na₂O/binder ratio, the SiO₂/Na₂O ratio, the BFS/binder ratio, the water/binder ratio, and the curing time on the compressive strength of BFS/FA-AAC. As a result, the influence degree and mechanism of each control factor on the performance of BFS/FA-AAC were quantitively explored and the accuracy of an empirical compressive strength formula was validated. Based on that, a practical mix design method of BFS/FA-AAC was eventually established. It is found that the mixture composition and content of paste can significantly influence the workability of BFS/FA-AAC. The compressive strength of BFS/FA-AAC is determined by control factors when the water content is within 160–195 kg/m³. The mechanical predictive method of BFS/FA-AAC is proven of high accuracy. The mixture designed by this methodology exhibits satisfied fresh and hardened performance as well as high environmental benefits.

In this paper, 871 data were collected from literature and trained by the 4 representative machine learning methods, in order to build a robust compressive strength predictive model for slag and fly ash based alkali activated concretes. The optimum models of each machine learning method were verified by 4 validation metrics and further compared with an empirical formula and experimental results. Besides, a literature study was carried out to investigate the connection between compressive strength and other mechanical characteristics. As a result, the gradient boosting regression trees model and several predictive formulas were eventually proposed for the prediction of the mechanical behavior including compressive strength, elastic modulus, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and Poisson's ratio of BFS/FA-AACs. The importance index of each parameter on the strength of BFS/FA-AACs was elaborated as well.

Alkali-activated materials (AAM) are known to be environmentally friendly alternatives to cement-based materials because they can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reutilize industrial by-products/wastes. To study the factors influencing the strength of slag based alkali-activated materials (BFS-AAM), fly ash based alkali-activated materials (FA-AAM), slag, and fly ash-based alkali-activated materials (BFS/FA-AAM), and clarifying their reaction mechanisms, this paper reviews current knowledge about the mechanical properties and the reaction mechanisms of BFS-AAM, FA-AAM, and BFS/FA-AAM. The precursor requirements and the strength control factors are summarized. The control factors for the strength of BFS/FA-AAM are the BFS/binder ratio, the Na₂O/binder ratio, the SiO₂/Na₂O ratio, and the w/binder ratio. Ion concentrations, determined by these control factors, play a decisive role in the development of strength. Generally, the strength is proportional to the BFS/FA ratio. The optimal values of the Na₂O/binder ratio of BFS-AAM and FA-AAM are between 5.5% and 8% and between 7 and 10%, respectively. The optimal values of the SiO₂/Na₂O ratio of BFS-AAM and FA-AAM are between 0.85 and 1.4 and between 0.6 and 1, respectively. Increasing the w/binder ratio will only benefit workability but will affect the strength negatively. A w/binder ratio of around 0.4 may strike a balance between strength and workability.

In this paper, a series of experiments were conducted to systematically and quantitively explore the effects of control factors on the early age properties, i.e., workability and strength of slag and fly ash-based alkali-activated paste (BFS/FA-AAP). The control factors on the workability (flowability and setting time) of BFS/FA-AAP include the Na₂O/b ratio, the SiO₂/Na₂O ratio, the w/b ratio, and the BFS/b ratio. The control factors on strength (compressive strength and flexural strength) of BFS/FA-AAP further also include the curing condition and the curing age. The results show that a higher BFS/b ratio and Na₂O/b ratio could increase the strength while decreasing the workability. A higher w/b ratio could increase the workability while slightly decreasing the strength. Higher SiO₂/Na₂O ratio increases both strength and workability. Despite that, higher Na₂O/b ratio and SiO₂/Na₂O ratio could hinder the strength development. Sealed curing condition is proved to be a simple but efficient way to assure the steady strength development of BFS/FA-AAP. Although the strength of BFS/FA-AAP could generally stabilize after 90 days, the strength development rate varies with different mix proportions. In addition, a general methodology have been proposed to predict the compressive strength of BFS/FA-AAP and verified with experiments. Finally, a mix design table is proposed for the preliminary design of BFS/FA-AAP according to the principle of satisfying early age requirements.