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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014

ISSN:- 2349283X

GEO-FIBER REINFORCED FLYASH FOR GROUND


IMPROVEMENT
1Ravi

Mishra
Post Graduate Student
Department of Civil Engineering,
Madan Mohan Malviya University of
Technology, Gorakhpur, India
Email: ravi12mishra@gmail.com

2Dr.S.M

Ali Jawaid
Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering,
Madan Mohan Malviya University of
Technology, Gorakhpur, India
Email: smaj@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT: This paper illustrates the possibility of utilization of the fly ash generated from the
coal/lignite based thermal power plants through ground improvement technique, leading to an effective
waste management. In this study samples were prepared by mixing different percentage of fly ash with
different percentage of soil, with an aim to compare strength gain with geo-fiber. Fly-ash mixed with
highly compressible soil and reinforced with geo-fiber may find potential applications in road and
embankment constructions with due regards for its strength characteristics, durability, longevity and
environmental safety.
KEYWORDS: Generation; Utilization; Environmental safety
1. INTRODUCTION
Fly ash closely resembles volcanic ashes used in
production of the earliest known hydraulic
cements about 2,300 years ago. Those cements
were made near the small Italian town of
Pozzuoli which later gave its name to the term
pozzolan. A pozzolan is a siliceous/aluminous
material that, when mixed with lime and water,
forms a cementations compound. The difference
between fly ash and portland cement becomes
apparent under a microscope. Fly ash particles
are almost totally spherical in shape, allowing
them to flow and blend freely in mixtures. That
capability is one of the properties making fly ash
a desirable admixture for concrete.
The aim of the work is to stabilize the fly ash
obtained from thermal power plant by mixing it
with soil and geo-fiber, which can subsequently
be utilized for various geotechnical and highway
engineering applications such as filling of
embankments, construction of highways,
replacement of poor subgrade soil etc.

the benchmark for determining the quality of


compaction. The dry density of fill is of primary
importance, as it is the major parameter of
strength and compressibility of the fills.
2. Materials
i.

Soil

ii.

Fly Ash

iii.

Geofiber

2.1 Soil
The soil sample which was collected from
Ravindra Nagar (Dhoos) Kushinagar. The
engineering properties, proctors compaction
test and grain size distribution curve of the soil
is given in Table 1 and, Fig 1, Fig 2 respectively.

The performance of stabilized mixes depends


upon the compaction or densification of the fill,
proper compaction is therefore, critical to the
performance of fly ash, fly ash-soil and fly ashsoil-geo-fiber fills. The maximum dry density
(MDD) and optimum moisture content (OMC)
obtained by Proctor compaction test becomes

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Table 1 Engineering Properties of Soil

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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014

ISSN:- 2349283X

Fig. 1 Result of Proctors Compaction Test on


Soil

Fig 2 Grain Size Distribution Curve For Soil

2.2 FLY ASH


The fly ash used in the study was brought from
Tanda Thermal Power Station situated at
Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, which was

available free of cost. Fly Ash is classified as silt


of low compressibility. Fly Ash from
Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) is continuously
removed to buffer hopers located near ESP by
means of vacuum pumps. From buffer hoppers,

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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014


dry fly ash is conveyed to storage silos, from
there it can be unloaded dry to pneumatic tank
trucks or conditioned with water by hydro mix
dust conditioners for discharge to open bed
trucks, Ash to be stored is removed by belt
conveyers to ash storage area. Bottom ash is
continuously collected in wet hoppers, ground
to sand size and periodically transferred to one
of six hydro bins for decanting. For the present
investigation, dry fly ash from hopper is
collected in polythene bags.
Fly Ash can be collected into different categories
such as dry fly ash, bottom fly ah, conditioned fly
ash. Dry fly ash can be collected from different
rows of electrostatic precipitators. Bottom ash is
collected from bottom of the boiler. Conditioned
fly ash is also available in ash mound for use in
landfills and ash building products.
Two classes of fly Ash are defined by ASTM
C618: Class F Fly Ash and Class C Fly Ash. The
main difference between these classes is the
amount of calcium, silica, alumina, and iron
content in the ash. The chemical property of the
fly ash is highly influenced by the chemical
content of the coal burned. (i.e., anthracite,
bituminous, lignite).
The free lime content of fly ash contribute to
self- hardening, fraction of lime, present as free
lime in the form of calcium oxide or calcium
hydroxide,
controls
selfhardening
characteristics of fly ashes.

ISSN:- 2349283X

Table 2 Engineering Properties of Fly Ash


(Type Class F)

Fig 3 Result of Proctors


Compaction Test on Fly Ash

The engineering properties of flyash are given in


table 2.

Fig 4 Grain Size Distribution of Fly ash

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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014

ISSN:- 2349283X

Table 4 Elemental Composition of materials


in Flyash (Source NTPC Tanda)

polypropylene as for as strength, chemical


innertness and durability is concerned. Steel
fibers are prone to rust and acids. Glass fibers
although costly but can bear temperature up to
1500 c. asbestos, glass, carbon fibers have been
found to be resistant to alkaloids and other
chemical attack. Polypropylene fibers used in
the study were cut from locally available
continues fibers. The physical and engineering
properties of the fibers are shown in Table 5.

3. GEOFIBER
The various types of synthetic fiber that may be
used for strengthening the soil or fly ash are
polypropylene, nylon, plastic, glass asbestos etc.
These are preferred over natural fibers because
of their higher strength and resistance.
Polypropylene fiber are resistant to acidic,
alkaline and chemical. These fibers have high
tensile strength, resistance to sea water and
melting point i.e. 850 C. poly amide has inherent
defect of getting affected by the ultraviolet rays
from sun but when the fibers are enbeded in soil
are not affected by solar radiation. Synthetic
fibers are also show a great biological
resistance. The important properties of
polypropylene are its versatility, excellent
chemical resistance, low density, high melting
point and moderate cost. All these make it an
important fiber in construction applications. So
far as fiber structure of polypropylene is
concerned, it is composed of crystalline and
non- crystalline regions. Fiber spinning and
rawing may cause the orientation of both
crystalline and amorphous regions. The degree
of crystallinity of polypropylene fiber is
generally between 50-60%, depending on
processing condition. Crystallization occurs
between glass transition temperature and
equilibrium melting point. Polypropylene fibers
are being used extensively throughout the USA
and Canada in all types of concrete construction,
and they have proven to be an effective method
of controlling shrinkage cracks in concrete.
Polypropylene fibers were tested in eight
different media (distilled water, iron, bacteria
culture, seawater and soil) for seventeen
months and found no degradation. Result
showed that there was no change in tensile
strength. Plastic fiber shows loss in strength
with temperature. Nylon is comparable with

Table 5 Physical and Engineering


Properties of Geo-fiber.

4. Mix Preparations for Stabilization of Fly


Ash
The fly ash is mixed with highly compressible
soil and geo-fiber in different proportion,
thereafter, best mix has been found on the basis
of Optimum Moisture content and California
bearing ratio test and then to the best mix has
been selected to improve the properties of soil.
The following proportions of mix were prepared
and the Geotechnical properties of mix
proportion are shown in Table no. 6.

On the basis of past research (Sharif, 2012) we


found that 2% geofiber mixing gives the best
result in soil stabilization therefore we mix 2%

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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014

ISSN:- 2349283X

geofiber in different percentage of soil and


flyash.
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Stabilization of Fly Ash
Different percentage at which Fly Ash was
mixed with soil and its OMC and CBR is given in
Table 7. From the table and graph it is clear that
strength of the mixture is maximum when 38%
Fly ash and 2% is Geofiber added to the 60
%soil. On the basis of past research (Sharif,
2012) we found that 2% geofiber mixing gives
the best result in soil stabilization therefore we
mix 2% geofiber in different percentage of soil
and flyash.

Fig 6 Result of Fly-ash and OMC


As shown figure 6, it is observed that the
Optimum moisture Content of the Fly ash
increases on increasing the percentage of flyash
in the mixture of soil and geofiber, because
surface area of the sample increases.

Fig.7 Result of Fly-ash and CBR

Fig 5 Result of Fly-ash and MDD


As evident from fig 5, on increase the percentage
of fly ash in the mixture of soil and geofiber,
leads to decreases in dry density because fly ash
is light weight compared to soil and the particles
present in the flyash are finer than soil.

Fig.8 Variation 0f OMC, MDD and CBR with


different fly ash content.

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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014


In order to compare the result obtained when
38% flyash, 60% soil and 2% geofiber is mixed
maximum CBR of 5.24% is found and after this
when the percentage of flyash is increased the
CBR value decreases.
4. Conclusions
With the aim to utilize the industrial waste such
as fly ash from NTPC Tanda power plant for geo
technical and highway applications in an
environmentally
safe
manner,
detailed
investigations were carried out. Based on this
study, the following conclusions are drawn.
The dry density of Fly ash and Soil
mix is less than that of virgin soil
because Fly ash is light weight
material as compared with soil.
In order to achieve good quality
structural fills, the MDD values
obtained from standard proctor test
may be adopted as a benchmark
value.
The CBR value of compacted fly ash
was found 1.8% which is low and
undesirable for construction.
The bearing strengths of fly ash
were increased to 5.24% on
addition of fly ash and geo fiber to
it.
The optimum percentage of the mix
is found as 60% soil + 38% fly ash +
2% geo-fiber based on strength
criteria.
Addition of small percentage of
Geo-fiber to Fly ash enhances the
bearing capacity of ashes.
The
mix
containing
38%FA+60%Soil+2%GF has good
bearing strength characteristics
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Compaction characteristics of pond ash.
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GJESR RESEARCH PAPER VOL. 1 [ISSUE 10] NOVEMBER, 2014


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