Laboratory compaction of fly ash and fly ash with cement additions

Abstract

The use of power-industry wastes as a material for earthen structures depends on its compactibility. It has been confirmed that a fly ash/bottom ash mix compacted several times in Proctor's moulds are not representative. The relationship between dry density of solid particles and water content for re-used waste samples was determined. The re-compaction effect on grain-size distribution, density of solid particles, specific surface and sand equivalent of wastes was investigated. Tests were conducted on fly ash samples compacted by the Standard and Modified Proctor methods. Another aim of the paper was to investigate the influence of cement additions on the compactibility of a fly ash/bottom ash mix. Waste samples in the natural state and with different percentages of cement additions (2, 5 and 10%) were compacted by both impact compaction methods to obtain compactibility curves ρ d ( w ) . It was found that cement addition resulted in an increased ρ d max value, while w opt decreased. Linear regression relationships for changes in compaction parameters after cement stabilisation are also given.