Experimental Studies on Bottom Ash and Blast Furnace Slag Based Geomaterial under Compressive Loading

This paper pertain results of experimental studies carried out on bottom ash and blast furnace slag based geomaterial. The newly developed geomaterial was made by mixing bottom ash with blast furnace slag, expanded polystyrene beads, and ordinary Portland cement as binder. Present study consists of three different mix ratios 0.9%, 1.2%, and 1.5%. In the experimental study mix ratio was defined as ratio between the weight of beads and weight of bottom ash, it was expressed in percentages. The slag was added in different percentages 5%, 10%, and 15% with respect to the weight of bottom ash. The weight of cement to weight of bottom ash ratio was considered as 30%. The effect of various mix ratios, slag percentages, and curing periods on the compressive strength, stress-strain behavior, density, and initial tangent modulus of the geomaterial was studied and the results were incorporated in the paper. Cubical specimens of size 70 mm×70 mm×70 mm were used and compressive strength of geomaterial was calculated for curing periods of 14 and 28 days. For each mix ratio, compressive strength of geomaterial increased with increasing slag percentages and curing periods and it is in the range of 273 to 703 kPa. Non-linear relationship was observed between compressive stress and axial strain for all the mix ratios and curing periods. The density of prepared geomaterial was decreased considerably with addition of beads. The initial tangent modulus was increased as the compressive strength values increased. The present study results indicate that the industrial waste products such as bottom ash and blast furnace slag can be utilized effectively in geotechnical engineering applications there by reducing their amount of disposal in the environment and in the direction of sustainable development.