Research on the Improvement of Granite Residual Soil Caused by Fly Ash and Its Slope Stability under Rainfall Conditions

Abstract

Granite residual soil has distinctive engineering characteristics due to its unique properties, and the resulting slopes are less stable and less resistant to rain erosion. The granite residual soil was improved by the addition of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% fly ash, and the effects of fly ash on the intensity index and penetration of granite residual soil were investigated by triaxial strength tests and permeability tests. In combination with scanning electron microscopy measurements, a study of the stability of fly ash-modified granite residual soil slopes by modeling rainfall using the finite element software ABAQUS revealed the following: (1) the permeability coefficients of the residual granitic soils decreased by one order of magnitude when fly ash was added; (2) the improvement in the triaxial strength index of the improved soil was most pronounced when the dosage of fly ash was 15%, so that a dosage of 15% was considered optimal; and (3) numerical simulations concluded that the stability of the slope formed by 15% fly ash-improved soil fill improved significantly relative to the original slope, with the coefficient of safety increasing from 1.06 to 1.42, and the resistance to water seepage also significantly improved.