Bearing Capacity of Sand Admixed Pond Ash Reinforced with Natural Fiber

Abstract

ABSTRACT The waste materials are of great concern to all over the world due to their disposal problems. The generation of a huge amount of pond ash from thermal power plants poses its disposal problem and is not environmentally friendly. To attenuate such problems, the pond ash can be used in road embankments and in filling of low-lying area for developing the construction sites. The present study deals with the evaluation of the bearing capacity of pond ash bed with the addition of sand. Further, the behavior of sand admixed pond ash bed reinforced with various layers of jute-geotextile at various depths was evaluated. The results of the study revealed the addition of 15% sand increases the maximum dry density and decreases the optimum moisture content of pond ash and be used to increase the bearing capacity of pond ash bed. A general shear failure was observed for pond ash bed alone and pond ash bed containing sand content. Further, an increment in bearing capacity of the pond ash and sand admixed by reinforcing it with various layers of jute-geotextile was noticed. The optimum depth of a single layer of geo-jute textile to be placed beneath the footing was observed as 0.3B.