Study of Slope Stability of Ash Dyke Raisings under Earthquake

Conditions.
Chinwala, N. N*. PG Student, M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, India.
nazimali.chinwala@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:
There are more than 85 thermal power plants in India; of which majority are coal based
producing approximately 100 million tons of coal ash yearly. With increased utilization of
generated ash through usage in concrete, brick making and other embankment
constructions, the utilization of the ash has increased considerably. However, the
percentage of utilization is still insufficient and for most of the power plants ash is deposited
in form of ash-pond in the vicinity of power plant as waste material covering several acres of
valuable land. Moreover, for new power plants the land acquisition is a major issue and with
limited area, rapid vertical expansions of Ash-dykes are inevitable. Present paper describes
pseudo-static analysis carried out on the ash-dyke sections with various raising stages.
Based on the state of the art practice in the India, starter dyke section and subsequent
raising geometry is selected. Using the in-situ test data performed on the existing ash-dykes,
geotechnical properties of the deposited ash ponds are selected to perform the seismic
analysis of the ash-dyke sections. Considering the various seismic zones per IS: 1893:2002,
Part 1, series of stability runs are carried out to map the factor of safeties at various stages
of ash-dyke raising. Sensitivity analysis is carryout out to examine the influence of the
geotechnical properties of the deposited ash in the ash-dyke. Present study helps the
geotechnical professionals to choose better geometries of ash-dykes during planning stage
to ensure sustainable performance.
Analysis was carried out for stability of ash dykes by upstream method under different
conditions by finite element based software SLIDE. In Seismic condition the ash dyke
constructed using upstream method gives factor of safety well above 1.296 for all Starter
dykes for different values of PGA. For raisings, ash dykes are found to be safe and factor of
safety is found to be greater than 1 for PGA values 0.1 and 0.16, for the PGA value of 0.24
the ash dykes are found to be unsafe in Stage II and Stage III as their values of factor of
safety lies just below 1 and for PGA value 0.36 the ash dykes are found to be unsafe in
every stages except the starter dyke. Also, the raiser dyke may rest on loose ash for
upstream construction practice, which may prone to liquefy during earthquake.
The remedial measures for these unsafe dykes to be safe are: (1) to flatten the slope of the
starter dyke as much as possible, or to provide berms. (2) Compaction of loose fly ash as
foundation as well as construction material in raisings must be done properly. (3) Stone
Columns may be provided if the foundation soil is weak and prone to liquefaction. (4) The
drainage arrangement must be made properly for the seepage of water.
In three-stage dykes, if there is no drainage provided then, phreatic line does not remain
within body of dyke and this may lead to its failure due to piping or sloughing. When
horizontal drain is provided the phreatic line is well within body of dyke contributing to its
stability.