California Bearing Ratio and Young’s Modulus Behavior of Clinker Stabilized Fly Ash-Mine Overburden Mixes

Abstract

Fly ash is a major byproduct of coal combustion. Fly ash often causes disposal problems and environmental pollution. This paper presents detailed laboratory investigation carried out on clinker stabilized fly ash-mine overburden mixes to find out its suitability for sub-base of mine haul road pavements. Proctor compaction test, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test, California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Test, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) were conducted on clinker stabilized fly ash-mine overburden mixes. Clinker content in the mixture varied between 2%–6% and mine overburden content varied between 10%– 40%. Test results showed that an increase in mine overburden content in the mixture resulted in increase of Maximum Dry Density (MDD) of the compacted mixture. An increase in percentage of clinker in the fly ash-mine overburden mixes increased enormously the CBR and Young’s modulus values.

Keywords: CBR, UCS, Young’s modulus, SEM, fly ash, mine overburden