ABSTRACT

Over the last few years, environmental and economic issues have stimulated the interest in

development of alternative materials and reuse of industrial waste/by-products. Pond ash is a

material collected from thermal power plants which is non-plastic and lightweight material

having the specific gravity relatively lower than that of the similar graded conventional earth

material. It primarily consists of silica, alumina and carbon. Massive generation of pond ash

by thermal power plants has become a major cause of concern for people living in and around

thermal power plants. The current rate of generation of coal ash in India has reached 130

million tons per annum with about 75,000 acres of precious land under the cover of

abandoned ash ponds. It is estimated that the generation of pond ash from coal fired

generation units in India will reach 170 million tons per annum by the year 2012 whereas, the

current rate of utilization of ash is about 35%. This leads to an ever increasing ponding area

for storing ash and related environmental issues. On the other hand, the construction of

highways and roads in India, which has taken a boom in the recent years, requires a huge

amount of natural soil and aggregates. To meet this demand ruthless exploitation of fertile

soil and natural aggregate is being adopted. This has brought the situation to an alarming

state. To address these problems pond ash has been tried in the low lying areas as structural

fill and embankment construction for highways. However, due to lack of sufficient

knowledge and confidence its use has not taken momentum. The basic and essential

parameters of pond ash, to be used either as structural fill or embankment material needs to

be investigated.

The objective of this study is to know the physical and chemical characteristics of Pond ash

which is produced under uncontrolled conditions and to study the mechanical properties of

Pond ash cement mixes with different percentage of cement content. To achieve the above

i
stated objective, compaction tests & unconfined compressive strength tests are conducted.

The samples of Pond ash with Cement varying from 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, 15 % & 18% by

weight of mixes were prepared. These specimens were cured for 7, 14 & 28 days because

curing time is vital important affecting the Pond ash cement mix strength. durability test

were performed. The addition of cement will be definitely improve the strength , but in this

study the durability has been checked as per the codal provision .

NOTATIONS

D10 = Effective size or Particle size from which 10% of the material(pond ash) is finer

ii
D30 = Particle size from which 30% of the material(pond ash) is finer

D60 = Particle size from which 60% of the material(pond ash) is finer

Cc = Coefficient of curvature

Cu = Coefficient of uniformity

dmax or M.D.D = Maximum Dry Density

O.M.C = Optimum Moisture Content

c = Apparent cohesion

= Angle of internal friction

K = Coefficient of Permeability

G = Specific Gravity

PA = Pond Ash

U.C.S = Unconfined Compressive Strength

iii