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Complete Replacement of Granular Base Layer with Stabilized Fly Ash for Road Construction

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Abstract

Low calcium fly ash generated by thermal power stations has a high potential for use in engineering applications instead of being discarded in vast quantities in landfills, presenting environmental difficulties. However, due to its insufficient self-cementing properties, low calcium fly ash must be stabilized with cementitious materials to provide the desired strength and stiffness. The current study is aimed at the use of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) in combination with conventional additives such as lime and cement to stabilize class F fly ash for its use in the flexible pavement as a base material. The effect of hydraulic binder content and curing time on unconfined compressive strength, durability, resilient modulus, and permanent strain was investigated. Fly ash mixtures containing 3% lime or cement and 9% (88F + 3L + 9G) and 15% (82F + 3C + 15G) GGBS, respectively, were found to be the best two mixes based on the criteria, which included experimental parameters and per ton binder cost in TOPSIS analysis. The resilient modulus of the proposed base mixes was approximately 82% higher than the conventional base layer of flexible pavement. The results of finite element analysis showed that pavement with a base layer mix of 88F + 3L + 9G had up to 98% and 138% higher service life, respectively, for fatigue failure and rutting failure criteria than pavement with wet-mix macadam (WMM) material. Furthermore, values of permanent strain for optimum fly ash mixes were 27–32% lower than WMM, with cost savings of up to 32,356 USD per kilometer per lane (3.75 m width) obtained by cost analysis.

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Data Availability

The data supporting this study's findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India

    Hrushikesh N. Kedar & Satyajit Patel

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  1. Hrushikesh N. Kedar
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  2. Satyajit Patel
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Contributions

HNK: Writing-Original draft preparation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation. SP: Writing-Original draft preparation, Supervision, Reviewing and Editing.

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Correspondence to Hrushikesh N. Kedar.

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Kedar, H.N., Patel, S. Complete Replacement of Granular Base Layer with Stabilized Fly Ash for Road Construction. Indian Geotech J (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-023-00817-1

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