Load-Bearing Capacity of the Footing Resting on a Reinforced Fly Ash Slope

Abstract

In several parts of the world, disposal of waste materials such as fly ash is a great problem. Application of waste materials as structural fills in foundations is one of the best solutions to disposal problems, because wastes can be used in large volumes in such applications. There may be difficulty due to poor load-bearing capacity of fly ash, especially when footing rests on the top of the fly ash fill slope. Inclusion of polymeric reinforcements as horizontal sheets within the fill may be one of the most viable solutions to improving the load-bearing capacity of reinforced fly ash slope, and it is particularly important for the situations where foundations need to be located either on the top of a slope or on slope itself. The present work is aimed at investigating the efficacy of a single layer of reinforcement in improving the load-bearing capacity when it gets incorporated within the body of a model fly ash embankment slope. An increase in load bearing capacity due to the incorporation of reinforcement in the model slope was found by conducting laboratory tests. Experimental results were compared by numerical values obtained using software GEO5 and PLAXIS.