Utilization of Ash as a Structural Fill in Low-lying Areas

Thermal power stations using pulverised coal as fuel, generate large quantity of ash as waste by product, which poses dual problem of environment and disposal. Flyash is a versatile material with many possible applications such as land filling and in land reclamation of low lying areas. An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the behaviour of compacted ash overlying sand deposit. The upper layer of ash is deposited at a relative density of 64% and 81% respectively on natural water content and lower layer of sand is deposited at relative densities of 40% and 70% respectively. Plate load test were conducted in plane strain conditions on footing for D/B = 0,1,1.5, 2, and 4 where ‘D’ is thickness of upper flyash overlying sand deposit have been studied. From the study it can be concluded that the settlement of footing decreases as D/B ratio increases and also with the increases of relative density of ash and sand.