A mixture of coal wash and fly ash as a pavement substructure material

Abstract

Abstract The reuse of waste materials in engineering projects has become the subject of many research efforts worldwide as it provides economical as well as environmental benefits. Coal wash (CW) and fly ash (FA) are example waste materials that can be used as alternative aggregates in transportation infrastructure projects, specifically as base and subbase materials in roads. Class C FA has been extensively used as a stabilizing material due to its hardening potential. However, Class F fly ash, a non-pozzolanic material when used alone, has not been considered in past research projects. In this study, Class F fly ash is mixed with coal wash as a void filler to enhance its compaction efficiency and produce a compact and well interlocked structure. A laboratory testing plan is performed to assess the geotechnical properties of the mixtures with 0%, 7%, 10% and 13% FA content and it includes compaction tests, unconfined compressive strength tests, California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests, collapse potential tests and permeability tests. The mixture with 7% FA is selected as the optimum mixture and its potential for tensile cracking under service loads is further investigated using four-point bending tests. Also, the resilient modulus and permanent deformations of the mixture are evaluated under different dry-back conditions using multistage repeated load triaxial tests.