PONDASHRAILWAY
PONDASHRAILWAY
PONDASHRAILWAY
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Sudhir Mathur
CSIR Central Road Research Institute
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Scientists, GTE Division, Central Road Research Institute, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110020, India
E-Mail - vasant.crri@nic.in, sinha.crri@nic.in, sudhirmathur.crri@nic.in
1.0 INTRODUCTION
About 100 million tons of pond ash is produced in India and only about 20% is
utilized for Roads, Buildings and other Civil engineering applications. Bulk utilization
of Pond ash is being carried out for road embankment construction in the massive
road development programs taken up by the Indian government viz. National
Highway Development Program (NHDP) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY). India has the second largest railway network in the world. The utilization
of pond ash in railway embankment would not only increase substantially the per
cent utilization, but also provides an alternative to costly good earth and protects the
environment. In this context, a pilot project has been taken up to construct 10 km of
pond ash railway embankment within the National Thermal Power Corporation
(NTPC) plant area, Kahalgaon, Bihar, India. In this this paper, geotechnical
characterization of materials are presentenced. Design and stability analysis of pond
ash railway embankment is also presented under different conditions.
2.0 MATERIALS
Pond ash samples were collected from the pond area at different locations, from
NTPC, Kahalgaon. Soil samples were collected along the alignment of proposed
railway embankment. i.e. Hurra satiation to NTPC Kahalgaon, Bihar, India.
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3.0 GEOTECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF POND ASH
To study the geotechnical characteristics of collected pond ash and soil, different
laboratory experiments were carried out which include:(a) Grain size analysis (b)
Atterberg limit tests (c) Specific gravity test (d) Proctor compaction test (e) Direct
shear test, and (f) permeability test. The results have been discussed in sections 3.1
to 3.6.
3.1 Grain size analysis
Grain size analysis was carried out as per IS: 2720 (Part 4) – 1985. Pond ash was
observed to be a coarse grained material. About 67 % of the material is in the sand
size while remaining 33% of the material is in the silt size. The soil was observed to
be fine grained soil. The particle size distribution curves
Format for pond ash andPage
No.QSP/GTE/05.F.02 soil 4are
of 4
shown in Fig.1.
100
80
Pond ash
60 Soil
% Finer
40
20
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Particle size (mm)
Fig.1 Grain size distribution curves for pond ash and soil
Proctor curve for
Fig.Pond
Grainash
size analysis of coal ash sample
3.2 Atterberg limit test
The plasticity characteristics of pond ash and soil were carried out as per IS:
2720(Part 5) – 1985. It is observed that pond ash is a non-plastic material. The liquid
limit and plastic limit of soil were observed to be 45% and 23% respectively. The
value of Plasticity Index (P.I.) was estimated as 22 % which indicates medium plastic
nature of local soil. According to BIS-1498, pond ash is classified as SM i.e. silty
sand mixture and local soil was classified as CI i.e. inorganic clay and silts of
medium plasticity.
3.3. Specific gravity test (G)
Specific gravity test was carried out as per IS 2720(part 3). The value of specific
gravity was obtained as 2.29 and 2.67 for pond ash and soil respectively. Pond ash
has low specific gravity as compared to soil.
2
3.4 Proctor compaction test
Modified Proctor test was carried out as per IS: 2720 (Part 8) -1983. The compaction
curves for pond ash and local soil are shown in Fig.2. The value of Maximum Dry
Density (MDD) for pond ash is observed to be 13.5 kN/m3 while the Optimum
Moisture Content (OMC) is 18%. Compaction curve of pond ash was found to be flat
indicating that variation in moisture content does not predominantly affect the dry
density. The value of Maximum Dry Density for soil is obtained as 19.5 kN/m3 and
Optimum Moisture Content is 10%.
25
Soil
Pond ash
Dry density, kN/m3
15
10
5 15 25
Moisture content, %
3
Table 1. Geotechnical properties of pond ash and soil
Soil classification SM CI
3
Proctor Compaction test MDD,kN/m 13.5 19.5
OMC, % 18 10
Permeability test Coefficient of 2.6 x10-6 2.4x10-
8
Permeability, m/s
Direct shear test Cohesion, kN/m2 0 51
Friction angle, 31 16
degrees
4
4.3 Blanket: A blanket of sand layer of thickness 1m may be provided on the top of
soil cover. The gradation and other properties of blanket material as per
specification as per Guideline No. GE: G-1(2003).
4.4 Ballast: A 0.3 m thickness of stone aggregate (ballast) is provided on the
blanket layer at a distance of 1m from the slope of the embankment. Properties of
the ballast are as per Guideline No. GE: G-1(2003).
4.5 Berm: Berm is provided when the height of the embankment more than 6m. A
2m top thickness having slope 2H: 1V is provided of local soil in addition to cover
soil on the slope. An intermediate berm may be also provided for 11m height
embankment. Berm soil may be used as same as cover soil. This would increase
the stability of higher height pond ash embankments.
4.6 Toe wall: A toe wall made of fly ash bricks is provided at the toe of the pond ash
embankment of different heights. This will be helpful to reduce the possible scour of
embankment at the toe. The height of wall proposed is 1m and having a weep hole
covered with geotextile. Weep hole drains the accumulated water in the sand layer
provided at the bottom of the embankment.
4.7 Drainage measures: There is every possibility of heavy inflow of water into the
railway pond ash embankment. The ingresses water should be able to drain out from
the embankment to avoid development of pore water pressure. Geotextile wrapped
0.4m thick sand layer is provided over each intermediate soil layers. This starts from
slope of the embankment and end at 2m inside the pond ash embankment. This
would ensure proper drainage of each confined cell of pond ash embankment,
compensating for the poor drainage characteristics of local cover soil. A 0.3 m layer
of sand is provided at the bottom of pond ash embankment on the virgin in situ
compacted soil. This layer would further facilitate the dissipation of pore water
pressure due to infiltration of water from the top of the embankment.
4.8 Load on the embankment: The safe load due to traffic on the railway
embankment was considered as 250 kPa on the top of blanket surface of railway
embankment.
4.9 Design cross sections: A typical design cross sections of railway embankment
proposed for construction are shown in Fig.3.
6.0 CONCLUSIONS
Pond ash and local soil were collected from Kahelgaon, Bihar, India, the place of
proposed construction of railway embankment and were investigated for their
geotechnical characteristics. Different cross sections of railway embankment of
heights 3m, 5m, 7m and 11m were designed considering the requirements of
drainage and based on results of stability analysis. Some of the conclusions drawn
from the study are as follows:
The pond ash which is used as a fill material is classified as SM i.e. silty sand
mixtures. Proctor compaction curves were found to be flat indicating that variation in
moisture content does not predominantly affect the dry density.
Pond ash was found to have angle of internal friction (ɸ‟) of 310 and coefficient of
permeability of 2.6x10-6 m/sec. These values indicate its usefulness in railway
embankment fill applications.
The local soil is classified as CI type of soil, which indicates inorganic clay and silts
of medium plasticity. The permeability value is observed to be 2.4x10 -8 m/sec.
Minimum thickness of 1m (perpendicular) local soil is proposed as cover soil for
different heights of pond ash embankment. Considering the poor drainage
characteristics of local soil, geotextile wrapped sand layers are proposed for proper
drainage of water from the embankment.
For pond ash embankments having height more than 3m, intermediate soil layers of
thickness 0.4m are provided for better confinement and compaction. Provision of
Berms for embankments exceeding 5m, improves the stability of the embankment.
A toe wall made of fly ash bricks is provided at the toe of the pond ash embankment
of different heights. This will be helpful to reduce the possible scour of embankment
at the toe. The height of wall proposed is 1m and having a weep hole covered with
geotextile.
Stability analysis of pond ash railway embankment carried out under specified
loading, saturation and seismic conditions indicated safe factor of safety values.
Effect of rail load is significant on lower height embankments as compared to higher
height embankments. The factor of safety values for 3m and 5m height
embankments are observed to be less as compared to 7m and 11m height
embankments, the most critical being the 3m height embankment.
7
7.0 NEED FOR FURTHER STUDY
Construction of pilot experimental test section of limited length (10 km) using pond
ash is likely to progress at Kahalgaon, Bihar, India. The performance of the
constructed railway embankment will be monitored over a period of at least two
monsoon seasons before recommending for large scale field applications.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are thankful to the Director, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi,
India for giving permission to publish this paper. We are thankful to Sh. V K Mathur,
AGM, NTPC, India for sponsoring this research project. The support provided by Sh.
R.K.Swami, Sh. P S Prasad, Mrs. Uma Arun and other laboratory staffs of the GTE
division is also acknowledged.
REFERENCES
IS 2720(Part3). Methods of test for soils: Determination of specific gravity of soils. Published
by Bureau of Indian standard, New Delhi, India; 1980.
IS 2720(Part4). Methods of test for soils: Grain size analysis of soils. Published by
Bureau of Indian standard, New Delhi, India; 1980.
IS 2720(Part5). Methods of test for soils: Determination of Liquid limit and Plastic
limit. Published by Bureau of Indian standard, New Delhi, India; 1985.
IS 1498. Classification and identification of soils for general engineering purposes.
Published by Bureau of Indian standard, New Delhi, India; 1970.
IS 2720(Part8). Methods of test for soils: Determination of water content dry density
relation using heavy compaction. Published by Bureau of Indian standard, New
Delhi, India; 1980.
IS 2720(Part 39). Methods of test for soils: Direct shear test for soils. Published by
Bureau of Indian standard, New Delhi, India; 1977.
IRC: SP: 58. Guidelines for use of fly ash in road embankments. Published by Indian
Road Congress, New Delhi, India; 2001.
Guideline No. GE: G – 1(2003), “Guidelines for earthwork in railway projects” Geo-
technical engineering directorate. Published by RDSO, Manak Nagar Lucknow –
11.