Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
STUDY REPORT
ON
USE OF COAL ASH
IN
RAILWAY EMBAKMENT
February-2006
(Nand Kishore)
Executive Director/Geotech. Engg,
INDEX
1 Introduction 1
2 Definition 1
12 Conclusion 29
13 References 30
ANNEXURE
2.0 DEFINITION
The term fill is used to describe ground that has been formed by
material deposited by man. Thus fill or made ground, as it is some
time called, results from human activity in contrast to natural soil,
which has its origin in geological processes. The fill material can
be classified as below:-
2.3 PFA
1
3.0 PRODUCTION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF ASH
This refers to the ash stored in ash ponds by the hydraulic fill
method. Usually, it is a mixture of bottom ash and fly ash at most
thermal power plants in India.
2
Sl. Name of Power Station Address
No.
1 Singrauli Super Thermal P.O. Shaktinagar Distt. Sonebhadra U.P.
Power Station
2 Korba Super Thermal P.O. Pragati Nagar, Korba ( West)
Power Station Distt.Korba
3 Ramagundam Super P.O. Jyoti Nagar Distt. Karmnagar
Thermal Power Station Andhra Pradesh.
4 Farakka Super Thermal P.O. Nabarun Distt. Murshidabad West
Power Station Bengal
5 Vindhyachal Super P.O. Vindhyanagar Distt. Sidhi M.P.
Thermal Power Station
6 Rihand Super Thermal P.O. Rihand Nagar Distt.Sonebhadra
Power Station U.P.
7 National Capital Power P.O. Vidyut Nagar Dadri, Dhaulana
Station Road, Distt. Gautam Budha Nagar U.P.
8 Feroz Gandhi Unchahar P.O. Unchahar, Distt.Rae Barreilly U.P.
Super Thermal Power
Station
9 Badarpur Super Thermal Badarpur, New Delhi
Power Station
10 Kahalgaon Super P.O. Deepti Nagar, Kahalgaon, Distt.
Thermal Power Station Bhagalpur, Bihar
11 Talcher Kaniha Super P.O. Kaniha, Distt. Angul Orissa
Thermal Power Station
12 Talcher Thermal Power P.O. Talcher Thermal, Distt. Angul,
Station Orissa
13 Tandar Thermal Power P.O. Tanda, Distt. Ambedkarnagar, U.P.
Station
14 Simhadri Super Thermal P.O. Simhadri, Distt. Vishakhapatnam
Power Station A.P.
Some coal ash samples from different thermal power plants were
tested in GE Lab, RDSO. Test results of these samples are
tabulated as Annexure-I.
3
6.0 DISCUSSION ON TEST RESULTS
Test results indicate that coal ash contain most of sand and silt
particles and non plastic in nature. OMC & MDD test results
indicate that fly ash having very high OMC and low MDD value.
Shear parameter indicate that fly ash having very low cohesion
value. Consolidation test results indicate that fly ash is having high
void ratio as compare to ordinary soil. Uniformity coefficient of
bottom ash is less than 7 indicate that the material is not well
graded.
Site investigations
Characterisation of materials
Detailed design
Topography
Hydrology
Subsoil investigations
4
Shear strength parameters required for evaluation of the
stability of proposed slopes and the bearing capacity of
foundations located and the fill
Compressibility characteristics - required for predicting the
magnitude and duration of the fill settlement
Permeability and capillarity - to assess seepage and to design
drainage system
Specification for compaction of the fill material
Position of water table - High water table should be lowered by
providing suitable drains
Details of intermediate horizontal soil layers between which ash
is to be sandwitched.
PARAMETER RANGE
5
7.4 General recommendation by IRC
8.1 Dr. Vimal Kumar and other in their paper on fly ash in road &
embankment published in National Seminar cum Business Meet
on use of fly ash in Roads & embankment advocated that the fly
ash is better material than soil in construction of road embankment.
The brief details of their paper are given below:
The use of fly ash / pond ash for road and embankment
applications can be classified as follows:
6
In embankment construction (including RE wall)
In sub base and base course
In semi rigid and rigid pavements (concrete roads)
7
Fly ashes have permeability in the range of 10-6 to 10-4 cm/sec. Its
high permeability ensures free & efficient drainage. After rainfall,
water gets drained out freely, which means its workability is better
than soil, especially, during the monsoon. Work on fly ash fills /
embankments can be re-started within a few hours of rain while in
case of soils, one is required to wait for much longer periods.
Further, fly ash gets consolidated at a faster rate and primary
consolidation gets over very quickly. So, it has low compressibility
& shows negligible subsequent settlements. Thus, it can be used in
bridge abutments also. Further, fly ash provides better bonding
with geogrid material, as it has more friction angle as compared to
soil. Hence, it provides a better & steeper RE wall as compared to
soil.
Fly ash (preferable) / Pond ash can be used for sub base and base
course construction and stabilization. The fly ash is usually used in
combination with lime to form the matrix that cements the
aggregate particles together. Generally clay soils are stabilized with
fly ash alone whereas silty soils respond well to stabilization with
fly ash and lime or cement.
8
Free Swell Index Very low Variable
Classification Sandy silt to silty sand Variable
Parameter Range
Specific Gravity 1.6 - 2.4
Plasticity Non-Plastic
Maximum Dry Density (gm/cc) 0.9 - 1.6
9
10
11
12
8.2 Dr. Sudhir Mathur and others in their paper on Construction of
Road embankment and reinforced earth wall using fly ash
published in National Seminar cum Business Meet on use of fly
ash in Roads & embankment studied Engineering properties of fly
ash and some case history. The brief detail of his paper is given
below:
Fly ash obtained from coal fired electric power plants can be used
as alternative material for construction of road embankments. The
engineering behavior of fly ash would be similar to silt or fine
sand. Usage of fly ash for embankment construction leads to its
bulk utilization, replacing good earth and is especially attractive in
urban areas where borrow material has to be brought from long
distances.
13
internal friction and a minimal cohesion intercept in partially
saturated condition. The friction angle for fly ash usually varies
from 300 to 350 and some time especially for coarse ash, friction
angle can be as high as 400. Any apparent cohesive behaviour
displayed will be lost upon complete saturation. Majority of Indian
power plants use bituminous coal and hence ash produced does not
have significant free lime content. As a result such a fly ash is not
hydraulic. Any latent strength development due to self-hardening
would be very insignificant and cannot be counted on for design
purposes. The compressibility of fly ash can be estimated in the
laboratory using the oedometer. The typical values of compression
index, Cc, for virgin compression ranges from 0.05 to 0.4 with a
majority of values usually from 0.1 to 0.15. Recompression index,
Cr ranges from 0.006 to 0.04. These values show that compaction
can significantly reduce the compressibility of fly ash fills. The
permeability of fly ash ranges from 8 x 10-6 cm/sec to 7 x 10-4
cm/sec. Generally medium to coarse type of ash have permeability
values of about 10-4 cm/sec and hence can be considered to have
good permeability.
Successful field trials have shown the suitability of fly ash as a fill
material for construction of road embankments. Both reinforced as
well as un-reinforced type of embankments have been constructed
using fly ash. Reinforced embankments, popularly known as
Reinforced Earth walls (RE walls) are used in urban areas for
approaches to flyovers and bridges. RE walls have several
advantages like faster rate of construction, economy, aesthetic look
and saving the land required for construction of an unreinforced
embankment. Fly ash is an ideal backfill material for RE wall
construction because of its higher angle of internal friction and
better drainage property. Geosynthetic materials like geogrids or
geotextiles can be used as reinforcement for construction of
reinforced fly ash embankments.
14
of the embankment, site conditions, flooding if expected, etc. This
cover material can be excavated from the alignment itself and
reused as shown in the Fig below. Stone pitching or turfing on this
cover is necessary to prevent erosion due to running water.
Intermediate soil layers of thickness 200 to 400 mm are usually
provided when height of embankment exceeds 3 m. These
intermediate soil layers facilitate compaction of ash and provide
adequate confinement. Such intermediate soil layers also minimise
liquefaction potential. Liquefaction in a fly ash fill generally occurs
when fly ash is deposited under loose saturated condition during
construction. To avoid the possibility of any liquefaction, fly ash
should be properly compacted to at least 95 per cent of modified
proctor density and in case water table is high, it should be lowered
by providing suitable drains or capillary cut-off. Fly ash can be
compacted using either vibratory or static rollers. However
vibratory rollers are recommended for achieving better
compaction. Compaction is usually carried out at optimum
moisture content or slightly higher. The construction of fly ash core
and earth cover should proceed simultaneously. High rate of
consolidation of fly ash results in primary consolidation of fly ash
before the construction work of the embankment is completed. The
top 0.5 m of embankment should be constructed preferably using
selected earth to form the subgrade for the road pavement.
15
Earlier fly ash embankment projects
16
Recent experiences of using fly ash for road embankment
Brief details of some of the projects executed in the recent past are
given below:
17
Angle of internal 32 30 34 25
friction ()
18
Slope failure of fly ash embankment
19
Deep pits were made in the embankment slopes to fix utilities
like electric poles and crash barriers, which were backfilled
with loose soil.
Run off water entered into the embankment side cover and
caused deep cavities exposing fly ash at many locations.
The soils that exhibit collapse have an open type of structure with a
high void ratio as expected in the case of ashes. According to
Barden et al. (1969) the collapse mechanism is controlled by three
factors; (1) a potentially unstable structure, such as flocculent type
associated with soils; (2) a high applied pressure which further
increases the instability; and (3) a high suction which provides the
structure with only temporary strength which dissipates on
wetting. As per an empirical study by Meckechnie (1989), the dry
unit weight and water content are generally considered as
important parameters that control the collapse of metastable
structure of soils, if the dry unit weight is less than 16 kN m-3. The
tentative dry unit weight of the coal ashes in Ropar ash pond was
often found to be less than 10 kN m-3 suggesting possibility of
collapse.
20
1. The collapse potential obtained by the oedometer test is a
dependent parameter of several factors such as grain size
characteristics, stress level, testing technique, degree of
compaction, a finite consolidation ratio, moisture content,
soluble substance, etc.
2. At prewetting critical moisture content and in the critical stress
range (50-125 kpa), the ashes tend to collapse more than those
in the dry condition. The observed collapse potential was
proportional to the collapsibility factor identified from the
maximum and minimum void state of the ashes. The ashes with
more than 50% of the particles in silt size range were found to
be collapsible.
3. The dry disposed ashes were more collapsible due to the
presence of soluble substances as compared to that obtained by
the wet disposal. Therefore, a correction was applied in the
observed collapse potential of the dry disposed ashes to obtain a
common correlation with the mean size as of the wet disposed
ashes
4. The generally recognized lower limit of collapse potential for
the collapsible soils in the oedometer is 0.01. It was observed
that the coal ash with a collapse potential of 0.0075 at 80%
degree of compaction (Dc) collapsed in model tests at 87% and
94% Dc. Increasing the density of this ash arrested the collapse
in the model test. The coal ash with a lower collapse potential
(0.0037 at 80% Dc) did not collapse at all while an ash with a
higher collapse potential (0.021 at 80% Dc) collapsed at all the
densities examined in the model test. Therefore, the lower limit
of collapse potential of the collapsible ashes was recommended
as 0.0075 at 80% degree of compaction in the oedometer.
5. In field, the collapse may occur due to the accidental wetting or
a rise of water table. In such cases, the magnitude of measured
collapse is a function of the depth of wetting front from the
ground level. If the wetting front ratio is more than 1.8, a threat
of collapse is bare minimum. The field collapse test is
recommended under an actual condition of wetting, if ashes are
to be used as a structural fill.
8.4 Sri Manoj Dutta in his paper Use of Coal Ash in Embankment
Stability Analysis and Design Consideration published in Journal
of Civil Engineering & Construction Review, April 1999 and
Engineering properties of Coal Ash published in Journal of
Indian Geotechnical Conference 1998 studied behavior of coal
ash in embankment. The brief details of his paper are given below:
21
The use of bottom ash in embankment construction results in
slope 2:1 being stable. These slopes are much steeper than
slopes, which are stable when pond ash or fly ash is used.
The use of pond ash yields stable embankment slope of 2.5:1 (
for ru =0 case)and 3:1( for ru =0.2 case)
Fly ash, which is a poorly draining material and has low
strength, yields the least embankment slopes (4:1 for ru =0.2)
for a factor of safety of 1.5.
22
9.0 FLY ASH IN RAILWAY EMBANKMENT
23
10.0 CASE HISTORY OF FLY ASH EMBANKMENT IN DMRC
For the rail corridor of mass rapid transport system for Delhi, the
base car depot was planned at Shastri Park on the east side of river
Yamuna near ISBT. This area of 64 hectare is located at the
reduced level of 203 to 204 meters above sea level where as 100
years HFL is 208.9 m hence it was decided to fill the base depot
area with soil.
Advantages considered
Due to following advantages, it was decided to use flyash to the
extent of two- thirds requirement of the earthwork:
24
Lower density than soil, hence low overburden pressures for
the same height of embankment, hence less chances of toe
failure.
Assured availability free of cost.
The cost of transportation of flyash was less as compared to
soil. Flyash being lighter material, required less haulage and
hence was economical.
Availability of good quality soil in such huge quantities was
difficult.
Embankment Design
25
flyash are fixed as 98% and 95% of modified proctor test ( IS-
2720) respectively. Figure below shows typical compaction vs
moisture content curve for soil and flyash.
26
Description of work
The project site is situated in national capital of Delhi near
Kashmere Gate, ISBT in the flood planes of river Yamuna and
within the eastern marginal bund or Shahdara marginal bund. The
work was started in Oct.1998 and full site was under standing
water of a few cm to 1.0 m. Large scale dewatering by high
discharging pumps and a network of drains was planned to make
the ground dry. The top layer of soil having vegetation or poor soil
was removed and ground was compacted by sheep foot roller of 10
to 12 tons with 8 to 10 passes so as to achieve a minimum dry
density 95% of modified dry density. After the base layer of soil
was laid and compacted in layer thickness of 15 cm, 98% of
modified dry density was achieved. Base soil layer of 1.2 m to 1.6
m was laid before starting laying of flyash layer of 15 cm thickness
each. The embankment designed as shown in figure above was
completed by laying layers of soil and flyash as per the
requirement of design.
27
During summer, it was observed that rate of loss of water from
the compacted layer was very high resulting into loss of
compaction, which used to get aggregated by movement of
dumpers which came for dumping of flyash. This problem was
solved by increasing thickness of compacted layer of fly ash
from 150 mm to 300 mm. This helped in speeding the
construction, reducing the open area of flyash and reduced
loss of moisture and compaction.
Spillage of flyash on roads during transportation is an area of
great concern and carelessness can create a very serious
pollution problem within the city. Hence preventive and
corrective measures were taken to control this menace. On
daily basis, it was ensured that all dumpers carrying flyash
were fully covered by tarpulin overloading of dumpers was
strictly not allowed.
Quality control
Studies have shown the suitability of fly ash as a fill material for
the construction of embankments. The properties to be kept in view
are grain size, density; shear strength, compaction characteristics &
permeability. The fly ash has to be compacted at OMC, which is
normally in range of 15-30 percent. Because of low density the
28
material is suitable for location where clayey soils get consolidated
under overburden material. The permeability of compacted fly ash
is low so in cases where the water table is very high or surface
water likely to percolate down the embankment, it is advisable to
provide for drainage a layer of coarse material 300-450 mm thick
below the fly ash
12.0 CONCLUSION
-----------------
29
REFERENCES
30
Annexure-I
Singrauli
Singrauli Kolag- Barauni Uncha Badar
Super
Coal Ash NTPC NTPC Super hat Ther- har pur
Thermal
S.No. samples Vidhya Vidhya Thermal Thermal mal Thermal Thermal
Power
Properties Nagar, M.P. Nagar, M.P. Power Power Power Power Power
Station
(Fly Ash) (Pond Ash) Station (Fly (Fly (Fly ( Bottom
( Bottom
(Fly Ash) Ash) Ash) Ash) Ash)
Ash)
1. Classific - ML SM SM SP-SM, SM SP-SM ML SP-SM,
ation SP,SM
2. Grain size distribution
Gravel (%) 00 01 06 09 00 00 00 00-6
Sand (%) 20 72 56 84 61 94-95 16-30 80-92
Silt (%) 80 27 38 07 39 05-06 70-84 03-17
Clay (%) 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Fines passing 80 27 38 07 39 05-06 70-84 03-17
75 sieve (%)
3. Consistency Limits (%)
Liquid Limit NP NP NP NP NP NP NP
31
Plastic Limit NP NP NP NP NP NP NP NP
Plasticity NP NP NP NP NP NP NP NP
Index
4. OMC (%) 13.5 21.0 22.5 25.0 19.2 17.60- 18-24.5 -
19.45
MDD (g 1.51 1.31 1.28 1.27 1.26 1.641- 1.22- -
3
/cm ) 1.660 1.42
5. Shear parameters:
C(kg/cm2) 0.02 0.00 0.024 0.012 .0143 -
(degree) 33.83 35.33 33.65 33.5- 32.98 -
33.65
C (kg/cm2) 0.10 0.0-0.01 - -
(degree) 11.2 24 - -
Specific 2.19 2.06 1.82 2.13 2.2 2.34- - -
6
gravity 2.41
7. Consolidation test parameters:
Compression 0.2086 0.2428 0.1107 0.0674- - -
Index (Cc) 0.0719
32
Coefficient of
Consolidation
(Cv)
(cm2/min) at:
2 Kg/cm2 0.1671 0.1394 0.1196 0.1302-
0.3629
4 Kg/cm2 0.2169 0.1466 0.1849 0.2627- - -
0.3581
8 Kg/cm2 0.1702 0.2291 0.2552 0.2515-
0.3509
Pre-
Consolidation 1.00 0.90 0.75 0.95- - -
Pressure (Pc) 1.02
(kg/cm2)
Initial Void 1.1275 1.0870-
Ratio (e0) 0.5795 0.4894 1.3154 - -
33
NTPC
NTPC NTPC Kahalga
NTPC NTPC
Coal Ash NTPC Ramagu Kahalga on
NTPC Ramagun- Ramagun-
S.No. samples Rihand n-dam, on (Bottom
Rihand dam dam, A.P.
Properties (Bottom A.P. (Fly Ash)
(Fly Ash) A.P (Bottom
Ash) (Bottom Ash)
(Fly Ash) Ash)
Ash))
34
4. OMC (%) 15.0 20.0 16.0 27.0 27.0 15.50 27.0
MDD (g 1.58 1.26 1.51 1.17 1.17 1.45 1.2
/cm3)
5.
C(kg/cm2) .
(degree)
C (kg/cm2)
(degree)
Specific 2.15 1.864
6
gravity
7.
Compression
Index (Cc)
Coefficient of
Consolidation
(Cv)
(cm2/min) at:
2 Kg/cm2
4 Kg/cm2
8 Kg/cm2
35
Pre-
Consolidation
Pressure (Pc)
(kg/cm2)
Initial Void
Ratio (e0) -
8 Uniformity
Coefficient 7.69 14.12 3.27 3.56 3.50
( Cu)
9 Coefficient of 0,69 3.53 0.80 1.13 0.75
curvature (
Cc)
36