Stabilizing Soft Fine-Grained Soils with Fly Ash

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of self-cementing fly ashes derived from combustion of sub-bituminous coal at electric power plants for stabilization of soft fine-grained soils. California bearing ratio (CBR) and resilient modulus (Mr) tests were conducted on mixtures prepared with seven soft fine-grained soils (six inorganic soils and one organic soil) and four fly ashes. The soils were selected to represent a relatively broad range of plasticity, with plasticity indices ranging between 15 and 38. Two of the fly ashes are high quality Class C ashes (per ASTM C 618) that are normally used in Portland cement concrete. The other ashes are off-specification ashes, meaning they do not meet the Class C or Class F criteria in ASTM C 618. Tests were conducted on soils and soil–fly ash mixtures prepared at optimum water content (a standardized condition), 7% wet of optimum water content (representative of the typical in situ condition in Wisconsin), and 9–18% wet of optimum water content (representative of a very wet in situ condition). Addition of fly ash resulted in appreciable increases in the CBR and Mr of the inorganic soils. For water contents 7% wet of optimum, CBRs of the soils alone ranged between 1 and 5. Addition of 10% fly ash resulted in CBRs ranging between 8 and 17 and 18% fly ash resulted in CBRs between 15 and 31. Similarly, Mr of the soil alone ranged between 3 and 15 MPa at 7% wet of optimum, whereas addition of 10% fly ash resulted in Mr between 12 and 60 MPa and 18% fly ash resulted in Mr between 51 and 106 MPa. In contrast, except for one fly ash, addition of fly ash generally had little effect on CBR or Mr of the organic soil.