2nd International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2012) June 30-July 1, 2012 Bali

Espousal of Flyash+Clay as Innovative Backfill

Material for Construction of Reinforced Bridge
Embankment
Jigisha M. Vashi, Atul K. Desai, and Chandresh H. Solanki

embankments, manufacture of sintered aggregate, wood

substitute material and for use in the manufacture of emulsion
/ paints/buildings distempers, etc. A new area of utilization of
fly-ash is use as backfill material. Problem for R & D to find
mass use has changed to waiting to obtain, its quota from
power plants at a price.
A large number of reinforced earth retaining structures have
been constructed throughout the world, because of its good
engineering performances. Compared with the traditional
gravity earth retaining structure, geosynthetic reinforced earth
retaining structures have better engineering characteristics of
light deadweight, beautiful shape, construction convenience
etc. Especially on the soft ground, the better performances
would be embodied in virtue of their light deadweight. Filling
materials performances and interface friction properties with
the geosynthetics directly influence the application
performances of the geosynthetics in reinforced earth
retaining structure. As the filling material, it should have the
following engineering properties: better interface friction
property with the geosynthetics & good mechanical properties
which include the strength and rigidity.
Road map to year 2022 in India, estimates Rs 3 lakh crore
investment into road infrastructure, targets 44 express
highways (18,637 Km) across variable soil sub-grade over
country. For Rs 20 crore per Km, approximately 2 crore will
be spent for flyover/underpass involving Earth Structures/RE
Wall etc [20], [21]. Thus there is a huge possibility of RE wall
being constructed for every 2 Km of 6-4 lane road of NH,
State Highway where there is a need of large fill/backfill
quantity of sand. But in future sand is not likely to be a source
forever, so there is a need for use of local waste/fill materials
as backfill and hence the present R & D. The detail study is
carried out on fly-ash as backfill material. The field
instrumented observations for our structures to derive code of
practice is recommended. In this study, the analytical
modeling of geotextile-reinforced embankment is also
performed using the GEO5 slope stability-LEM and GEO5
FEM software version 12 [8].

AbstractThis paper discusses the performance of cohesive soil

and flyash mixture as fill material for reinforced embankment.
Laboratory experiment using Triaxial test have been carried out to
assess the strength property of 20% cohesive soil mixed with 80%
flyash. The results indicate that the mixture of cohesive soil and fly
ash have higher strength, rigidity and good interface friction. Thus
this composite filling material can be used in regions where specified
graded sand is not available or scarce. Numerical analysis using
GEO5 software was carried out to investigate the applicability of
limit equilibrium method and finite element method for analyzing
reinforced embankment on soft soil. Results divulge that use of full
length of geotextile covering whole width of embankment with 80%
flayash+ 20% clay can increase factor of safety at stiffer slope
inclination. Hence, concentrated attempts are made to effectively use
fly ash in an environmentally friendly way.

KeywordsBackfill material, Fly-ash, Numerical analysis,

Reinforced embankment, Shear parameter
I. INTRODUCTION

N India, about 230 million tonnes of coal is being currently

used by thermal power stations, which is also about 65% of
total coal production. There are about 82 thermal power plants
in utility sector which currently produce around 95 million
tonnes of flyash per annum posing serious problems of
disposal and environmental hazard at many places.
Considering the growth plans of power sector, the annual fly
ash generation is expected to double by year 2013. However,
for long the potential of Fly Ash as a sustainable resource
material has been ignored. Hence, concentrated attempts are
made to effectively use fly ash in an environmentally friendly
way. Various geotechnical studies conducted on fly ash have
proved beyond doubt that fly ash has potential to emerge not
only as a valuable building/construction material but also as
an agricultural input. It has got inherent characteristics for the
manufacture of bricks (as substitute of scarce and fertile top
soil)/hollow and solid blocks/cellular light weight concrete,
partial replacement of cement), construction of roads and
Jigisha M. Vashi is with the Sardar Patel National Institute of Technology,
Surat, Gujarat, India, 395007, (e-mail: vashi.jigisha@gmail.com).
Atul K. Desai is with the Sardar Patel National Institute of Technology,
Surat, Gujarat, India, 395007, (corresponding author, phone: 09327433390;
fax: +91-261-2227334; e-mail: akd@amd.svnit.ac.in).
Chandresh H. Solanki is with the Sardar Patel National Institute of
Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India, 395007,(e-mail: chs@amd.svnit.ac.in).

II. SPECIFICATION FOR FILLING MATERIALS

BS 8006-1995 [2] allows only two principle types of fill to
be used in the construction of reinforced soil retaining walls.
The grading shown in Fig: 1(a) is suitable for use with all fill
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2nd International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2012) June 30-July 1, 2012 Bali

types and contains limited quantities of material passing a

63m sieve. This is to ensure that fills for use with steel
elements are free draining so as to avoid the corrosion
concerns that would be present using water sensitive fill. The
grading curve shown in Fig: 1(b), which allows a higher
proportion of material passing a 63m sieve, with specific
controls on the Attrburg limits, is suitable for use with
polymeric reinforcement only. These constrains may be
modified for a particular project, based on construction
conditions, regional experience, depth of geotechnical
investigation, and design provisions.

between the technical benefits of cohesion-less soil and

economic advantages of cohesive soil. [12] Suggested the
minimum specifications of a soil to be used in reinforced soil
construction. These are given in Table I.
IV. LABORATORY TESTING
In order to evaluate and understand the present state of art
in the field of back fill material usages, a through literature
survey was carried out. Many researchers work in the area of
fly-ash as backfill materials [5], [12], [3], [16], [9], [1], [18],
[15], [14], [6], [17], [10], [4], [13], [11] etc. The design must
satisfy the shear parameters and compatibility with reinforcing
polymeric geo-fabrics material.
Through experiments, the technical performances of locally
available soil in Gujarat like cohesive soil and fly ash (FA)
mixture can be ascertained. The shear strength parameters for
mixture of 80% FA + 20% cohesive soil were studied. The
purpose of this experimental work was to investigate the
application properties of the mixture used as filling material
and review it with previous research conducted for a region in
India having CH soils, and combine pertinent data with results
from the technical literature to develop guidelines for
selection of fill materials for reinforced cohesive-soil
structures.
Soil sample of high plastic clay (CH) and fly ash was
collected from GIPCL, Nani Naroli, Klin, District Surat.
Physical and chemical properties of soil sample were
determined by standard lab tests and are represented in Table
II (Grain size distribution as per IS 2720 Part 4, Specific
Gravity as per IS 2720 Part 3 Section I, Liquid & Plastic Limit
test as per IS 2720 Part 5, Compaction test as per IS 2720 Part
7, and Free Swell Index test as per IS 2720 Part 40).
For the investigation purpose 80% Fly Ash + 20% Soil mix
was decided. Moisture v/s Density relation for Fly Ash: Soil
(80:20) ratio mention is given in Fig 2. The values of cohesion
C and angle of internal friction are found out from modified
failure envelope for Unconsolidated undrain (UU) and
Consolidated drain (CD) traixial test are finding out with PET
100 Geotextile as Reinforcement. The summary of the test
result are shown in Table III for three variable moisture
content OMC, 2 % less than OMC and 2 % more than OMC.

Fig. 1 Acceptable fill grading curves for use with (a). All
reinforcement types and (b). Polymeric reinforcement only [7]

III. PROBLEM DEALING WITH FLY-ASH

When utilizing fly-ash alone as filling material the arising
problem is while transporting fly-ash from thermal power
station to the site, inhaling fly-ash by the people in
surrounding area while spreading it to the site. So the
alternative is to mix some additives like locally available soil
to prevent any environmental hazard by spreading of fly-ash.
To get a optimum mixture of fly-ash and locally available
soil say top expansive cohesive soil in Gujarat, an
experimental studied was carried out for determining the shear
parameters of this mixture, whether this innovative backfill
material mix is suitable for RE Wall fill material or not.

V. MODELING AND ANALYSIS

The analytical modeling of geotextile-reinforced slopes is
performed using the GEO5 slope stability -LEM and GEO5
FEM software version 12 [8]. The geometry is presented in
Fig. 3. For present investigation the main model with 8 m
height, 20 m crest width of embankments with berm slope as
58 and 64 placed on a 2 m of embankment foundation &
below that relatively soft layer of 5 m thickness was being
investigated. The material properties used for the model was
fly-ash + CH clay (80:20) described by laboratory test by [20]
is presented in Table IV.

TABLE I
MINIMUM SPECIFICATION FOR SELECT FILL
Sieve Size

Percent Passing

6
3
No.200
6

100
75-100
0-25
100

OR If percent passing No.200 is greater than 25 percent, and

percent finer than 15 is less than 15 percent, material is
acceptable if = 30 and P.I. < 6

Cohesive-frictional soil can be convenient compromise

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2nd International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2012) June 30-July 1, 2012 Bali

TABLE II
PROPERTIES OF SOIL & FLY-ASH

Physical Properties
Test
4.75 mm
2.00 mm
1.00 mm
I S Sieve
size in mm
0.425 mm
0.250 mm
0.075 mm
Specific Gravity
Liquid
Limit

Immediate

Soil
Test 1
100
100
97
95
95
76
2.497
58

Fly-ash
Test 2
Test 1
Test 2
% Passing
100
100
100
100
100
100
96
100
100
95
100
100
94
100
100
75
79
78
2.488
2.547
2.526
61

After 24 Hrs Soaking

-

After 48 Hrs soaking

Plastic Limit
Plasticity Index
MDD in kN/m3
Standard
Proctor Test
OMC in %
Free Swell Index in %

34
24
16.20
23.5
50

38
23
16.10
23.5
48

Fig. 2 Moisture density relationship for 80F+20C proportion

44

45

51

52

62

61

NP

Chemical Properties
of Fly Ash (%
content)
SiO 2
Al 2 O 3
Fe 2 O 3
TiO 2
CaO
MgO
Na 2 O
K2O
LiO 2
SO 3
LOI (Loss
on Ignition)

NP
-

1.29
32.0

1.26
33.0

Fig. 3 Geometry of model

TABLE III
SUMMARY OF TRAIXIAL TEST RESULTS
Tests
80% Flyash + 20% Clay

UU Unreinforced Traixial
OMC+2%

C kPa
()

57
30.13

OMC
68
34.02

CU Reinforced Traixial
OMC-2%
72
36.33

OMC-2%
80
37.11

TABLE IV
PROPERTIES OF SOIL MATERIAL
Properties
Unit weight, (kN/m3)
Saturated unit weight, sat (kN/m3)
Cohesion, c ef (kPa)
Angle of internal friction, ef (deg)

Type
Earth structure and foundation - 1
14.12
19.06
15
30

29

Foundation - 2
20.5
25.0
5
15

24.30
13.11
17.16
2.51
27.00
0.32
1.05
0.16
Nil
9.50
4.78

2nd International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2012) June 30-July 1, 2012 Bali
TABLE V
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

Slope
Angle
(Degree)
58
64

Vertical
Spacing
(m)
0.5
0.4
0.5
0.4

Factor of Safety
LEM (Bishops)
FEM
Flooded
Normal
Flooded
Condition
Condition Condition
1.65
1.81
0.73
1.74
1.89
1.00
1.69
1.80
0.81
1.74
1.88
1.01

Normal
Condition
1.17
1.18
1.21
1.23

Remark
LEM = Limit equilibrium
method and F.S > 1.5 gives
safer result
FEM = Finite element
method and F.S > 1 gives
safer result

Slope angle 58 and S v = 0.5 m(Settlement = 39mm)

Slope angle 64 and S v = 0.5 m (Settlement = 28.2 mm)

Slope angle 58 and S v = 0.4 m (Settlement = 15 mm)

Slope angle 64 and S v = 0.4 m (Settlement = 11mm)

Fig. 4 Settlement analysis by GEO5 FEM model

This embankment was reinforced by layers of geotextile
having variable length from top to bottom covering whole
width of embankment. The vertical spacing of geotextile is 0.4
m and 0.5 m. A nominal surcharge of 50 kPa has been used
for modeling the traffic load as commonly adopted in practice
(IRC: 6-2000). The PET 100 geotextile was used as
reinforcement. In this model 40 % of ultimate tensile strength
R t is considered for PET considering creep. Also it was
assumed that each layer of geotextile has same tensile strength
& placed horizontally.
For LEM analysis, F.S at 0.5 and 0.4 m spacings is
favorably satisfied for both embankment slopes of 58 and 64

degree for both normal & flooded conditions. However for

FEM analysis the F.S at 0.5 m spacing is not favorably
satisfied for both embankment slopes for flooded condition,
but F.S is favorably satisfied at 0.4 m for normal and flooded
condition (Table V). The settlement analysis is also carried
out with the used of FEM model and it is also within
permissible limit for both model (Fig.4).
VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Looking at the present scenario of rapid infrastructural
development, availability and usage of purely cohesion-less
back fill is rarely possible at all site conditions. With the
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2nd International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environment Sciences (ICCEBS'2012) June 30-July 1, 2012 Bali
[2]

advancement of R & D methods over the decades study for

use of composite materials, on non availability of sand as
backfill material is fast catching up, for at times it can also
work out to be an economical and technically feasible option.
Following are few conclusions derived on this regard:
Fly ash, a byproduct of industry available abundantly in
major part of our country can be blended, compacted and/or
stabilized with cohesive expansive soils. Fly ash can satisfy
the requirements of fill material in reinforced walls, slopes
with specified compaction, work as a filter material and bring
about economy in construction practices. The economy &
feasibility in usage of property specified soil, byproducts of
industry including fly ash as compacted fill material for
backfill, other fill and fill of steep reinforced slopes, being still
at a nascent stage, requires a through R & D and massive field
trials of performance for better understanding and its optimum
utilization for the massive infrastructural construction
planning projects in India. Fly-ash byproduct is confirmed
source of power plant for future hence recommended. The
availability and cost of this fly-ash vary from region to region
but it is permanent source till power requirement exist.
Through systematical experiments, the application
performances of locally available cohesive soil in Gujarat and
fly ash mixture were studied to avoid the inhaling problem of
fly-ash alone in surrounded area while transporting and
conclusion drown are: (1) The mixture of cohesive soil and fly
ash has higher strength, rigidity and good water stability. (2)
Triaxial shear parameters of the mixture of cohesive soil and
fly ash are relatively higher & meet normal design parameters
of backfill. These indicate the better interface friction if its
used with geosynthetics. (3) The typical test presented,
conformed that mix design of (80:20) can be evolved for a site
to provide low cohesion, high > 30 material for backfill.
This requires placement at 2% less than OMC & MDD.
The numerical model design of continuous length of
geotextile-reinforced embankments with the optimum
embankment slope of 58 to 64 at 0.4 m to 0.5 m vertical
spacing and 40 kN/m ultimate tensile strength of
reinforcement (PET 100) also meets the minimum safety
factor requirement of 1.5 from USACE recommendation and
is suggested for the following advantages: increase of reliable
factor of safety, favorable stress distribution to the soil, low
creep material, allowance for use of soil with average
mechanical properties, the entire system lead to a more costeffective design of embankment.
The performance of cohesive soil and fly ash mixture
conform to the requirement of filling material of geosynthetics
reinforced earth retaining structures mentioned in BS 8006:
1995. So it can be used as a good filling material of reinforced
structures. The R & D has solved future problem of fill
materials for RW walls / slopes by infinite recurring
byproduct of fly-ash over next 2 to 3 decades.

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]
[9]
[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]
[19]

[20]

[21]

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