EFFECT OF SAND AND GEOGRID REINFORCEMENT ON BEARING CAPACITY OF SAND ADMIXED POND ASH

To dispose of the waste materials is one of massive prob-lem all over the world as it requires a vast area, as large quantities of pond ash are being generated from thermal power plants which gives rise to disposal problems. Also, it constitutes fine particles of fly ash that create health prob-lems and is also considered as environmental hazard. To enervate these engineering problems, it can be used as con-struction material in various construction projects and can further be used as filling material in low lying areas. The current study works upon evaluation of bearing capacity by replacing the pond ash with sand in optimum proportion. Further, the mix deposit is reinforced with geogrid rein-forcement at suitable depth below the base of footing and its effect on strength of deposit is evaluated. The results revealed that with addition of 15 % optimum sand content in pond ash, the maximum dry density of the mix increases, and optimum moisture content gets reduced and further can be used for the enhancement of bearing capacity of pond ash bed. During the failure mechanism in laboratory plate load test, the bed was bulged on both sides of tank. Further, the study was carried out in laboratory setup to evaluate the effect of reinforcement on the strength of pond ash bed alone and sand admixed pond ash. For single layer of geogrid layer reinforcement the optimum depth was observed as 0.5B.