BEARING CAPACITY AND SETTLEMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF REINFORCED FLY ASH

Abstract

Energy in the form of electricity is a basic necessity for economic development and social progress. The necessity of providing electric power to the rapidly growing industrial as well as agricultural sectors has resulted in the setting up of a large number of coal based thermal power stations in different parts of the country. In these thermal power stations,, the burning of coal at high temperatures produces coal ash as a waste material. The huge quantity of ash being accumulated over the years is like to pose a collosal problem for its disposal and cause environmental pollution leading to health hazards. To minimise all these effects a best alternative is to promote large scale utilisation of coal ash which has potential for use in the country. About 5 percent of the annual production of 38.4 million tonnes of fly ash from different thermal power stations in the country is being utilised. By utilizing fly ash and by putting the waste material into constructive use, not only a 'waste material' is not wasted, but a new, versatile and potential construction material is born. It is a case of 'churning waste into wealth and 'turning ash into cash'. The current excerise is an attempt of compute the bearing capacity and settlement characteristics of reinforced fly ash so that fly ash can be successfully used as foundation material. Geogrid of Netlon product is used to reinforce the fly ash. Geogrid material having high tensile strength, non-corrosiveness, temperature resistance and biological resistance. The soil has very low tensile resistance and its tensile resistance improves with the effective bond due to interlock at the soil-reinforcement interface. This bond is mainly achieved through interlock and friction which improves the bearing capacity considerably and a significant reduction in settlement is noted