Bearing capacity of soft soil model treated with end-bearing bottom ash columns

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 77; no. 3; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Moradi, Razieh, Marto, Aminaton, Rashid, Ahmad Safuan A., Moradi, Mohammad Moeen, Ganiyu, Abideen Adekunle, Horpibulsuk, Suksun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ash; Bearing capacity; Biogeosciences; Bottom ash; Burning; By products; Byproducts; Casing (process); Clay; Combustion; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Environmental Science and Engineering; Geochemistry; Geology; Green infrastructure; Hydrology/Water Resources; Modelling; Original Article; Soft clay; Soil; Soil bearing capacity; Soil improvement; Soil mechanics; Soil treatment; Soils; Sustainable development; Terrestrial Pollution; Bottom ash; Soil improvement; Geotextile; Soft clay; End-bearing granular column
• ISSN: 1866-6280; 1866-6299
• DOI: 10.1007/s12665-018-7287-8

Granular column technique is a soil improvement method used to increase the bearing capacity of a soft soil area by replacing the soil with a group of granular column materials. The by-product utilisation is a worldwide interest for sustainable infrastructure development. Bottom ash, which is a combustion deposit derived from coal burning, is a potential by-product that could be used alternatively to sand or aggregate as a green granular column material. This research is to study the potential use of the bottom ash column-improved soft clay by conducting a series of small-scale physical modelling test. The bearing capacity behaviour and failure mode of soft clay improved with end-bearing group of bottom ash columns with and without geotextile encasement are investigated. The bearing capacity of soft clay is significantly enhanced by the inclusion of bottom ash columns; that is, 239% of bearing capacity improvement is observed with only 13% of improvement area. The bulging of the bottom ash column is transferred to buckling failure with higher bearing capacity when the bottom ash column is encased by geotextile. The outcome of this research leads to the usage of bottom ash by-product as a granular column material in sustainable soil improvement technique.