Construction of an Embankment with a Fly and Bottom Ash Mixture: Field Performance Study

Abstract

Fly ash and bottom ash are coal combustion by-products (CCBPs) that are generated in large quantities throughout the world. It is often economical to dispose ash as mixtures rather than separately; that notwithstanding, only a few studies have been performed to investigate the behavior of fly and bottom ash mixtures, particularly those with high contents of fly ash. Also, there is very limited data available in the literature on the field performance of structures constructed using ash mixtures. This paper describes the construction and the instrumentation of a demonstration embankment built with an ash mixture (60:40 by weight of fly ash:bottom ash) on State Road 641, Terre Haute, Ind. Monitoring of the demonstration embankment was conducted for a period of 1year from the start of construction of the embankment. The settlement of the embankment stabilized approximately 5months after the end of its construction. According to horizontal inclinometer readings, the differential settlement at the top of the embankment is about 5mm. Results from field quality control tests performed during construction of the demonstration embankment and monitoring data from vertical and horizontal inclinometers and settlement plates indicate that the ash mixture investigated can be considered an acceptable embankment construction material.