Geotechnical Behavior of soil with Fiber Reinforced Pond Ash

Abstract

In the recent past huge amount of Fly ash and Pond ash are generated by the thermal power plants. It is a major cause of concern for the people living around the power plants. The rate of pond ash deposition in India is 170 million tons per year, with 90,000 acres of land used for storage. However, the current utilization rate is only 35–40%, leading to an increasing ponding area and environmental issues. The construction of highways and roads has also increased the need for natural soil and aggregates, further causing environmental and economic issues. To address these issues, alternative methods have been developed, such as using suitable industrial by-products like pond ash, which is a non-plastic and lightweight material. Pond ash is collected from the Siltara power plant. During this work, the pond ash is replaced partially with soil by 10%, 20% and 30%. The co- efficient of uniformity and co-efficient of curvature of soil is analyzed by sieve analysis of new composition of soil. Also specific gravity of soil with fiber reinforced pond ash is analyzed by pycnometer method and to determine the optimum moisture content of soil. In this case the soil is replaced with pond ash by 10%, 20% and 30% partially with addition of coconut fibers of volume of fraction of 0.5 and 1.0%. These results will be very much helpful for the successful application of pond ash in different fields such as embankment construction, road base and sub-base construction, designing of retaining walls etc., as well as the disposal of pond ash in an eco-friendly manner.