United States Department of Transportation
ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners.
As a repository, ROSA P retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
Bottom ash test section evaluation Erwinville, LA.
-
2009-02-01
[PDF-2.09 MB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:Bottom ash is a by-product of the energy industry and the residual of burning coal in a kiln
firing process. Bottom ash is black and the consistency of coarse sand with gravel clinker
traces. The product is used in other states as embankment material, and this project will
evaluate the product for use in Louisiana.
Many laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the properties of the bottom ash material.
Those tests included moisture content, standard and modified Proctor, grain size distribution,
California Bearing Ratio (CBR), nuclear moisture density, direct shear, pH, and resistivity
tests.
A test section was constructed with the bottom ash material. The purpose of the test section
was to evaluate the in-situ properties of the material in the field, the construction techniques,
and the potential field quality control methods and devices to monitor field construction.
The results of the Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) and the nuclear moisture density
gauge appeared to be the most effective tools in evaluating the material. The DCP results
were repeatable and closely matched typical values for sand strength/stiffness. The nuclear
gauge proved to be an appropriate tool for construction control.
Implementation of the bottom ash material should provide the Louisiana Department of
Transportation and Development (LADOTD) an effective embankment alternative at a low
cost. The material also has relatively low density, which could provide another lightweight
embankment alternative for soft subsurface soils.
Recommendations include future test sections with field monitoring due to the limited scope
of the project. A draft specification has been included for review and approval by the chief
engineer.
-
Format:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
