Geo-Congress 2014 Technical Papers, GSP 234 © ASCE 2014 352

Monotonic Behaviour of Pond Ash under

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Critical State Soil Mechanics Framework

J. Zhang1, S. R. Lo2, M. M. Rahman3 and J. Yan4

1
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Engineering and Information Technology (SEIT),
University of New South Wales at Canberra (UNSW@Canberra), Canberra, ACT
2600, Australia; Ph: (+61) 2 626 86057; Fax: (+61) 2 626 88581; Email: jiajun.
zhang@student.adfa.edu.au
2
A. Prof., SEIT, UNSW@Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia; Ph: (+61) 2 626
88349; Fax: (+61) 2 626 88581; Email: r.lo@adfa.edu.au
3
Lecturer, School of Natural and Built Environments & Barbara Hardy Institute,
University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia; Ph (+61) 8 830 25899;
Fax (+61) 8 830 25082; Email: Mizanur.Rahman@unisa.edu.au
4
Ph.D. Candidate, SEIT, UNSW@Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia; Ph:
(+61) 2 626 88357; Fax: (+61) 2 626 88581; Email: jun.yan@student.adfa.edu.au

ABSTRACT: Critical state soil mechanics (CSSM) has been proven to be a

successful approach in predicting the behaviour of clean sand; however, whether it
would work well with pond ash is still unknown. Hence, the aim of this study is to
evaluate the applicability of the CSSM framework on pond ash under monotonic
triaxial compression testing and its ability to predict behaviour pattern in undrained
shearing. The specimens were prepared by a newly developed slurry deposition (SD)
technique to better simulate the deposition in ash pond. Test results exhibited a
unique critical state line from drained and undrained triaxial compression tests. The
behaviour of pond ash can be correlated with the initial state parameter ψ0.

INTRODUCTION

As a result of the coal combustion in thermal power stations, large amount of fly
ash and bottom ash are generated every year. Many efforts are made in utilizing coal
combustion residue in various fields, e.g. Yoshimoto et al. (2006). However, only
30% of the total amount of the generated coal combustion residue is utilized
effectively. The unutilized fly ash and bottom ash are often mixed up with water and
disposed onto ash ponds. Such mixture of fly ash and bottom ash in ash pond is
called pond ash. Pond ash is often a non-plastic sandy silt and may exhibit high
volumetric compressibility because of particle breakage (Baki et al. 2012). Thus, it
may exhibit atypical geotechnical behaviour.
The critical state soil mechanics (CSSM) has been proven to be a successful
approach in predicting the behaviour of clean sand (Li and Dafalias 2000) and sand

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with fines (Rahman and Lo 2008). However, whether the CSSM framework is
applicable in predicting the behaviour of pond ash is still unknown. This paper
presents an experimental study and evaluates the applicability of the CSSM
framework on pond ash under monotonic compression triaxial tests.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
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Material tested

The tested pond ash was sourced from an ash pond in Queensland, Australia. The
material was found to be non-plastic with an average specific gravity Gs of 2.04. The
Gs was determined as per ASTM:D854-10 (2010) (Method A). The original material
contained a small amount of coarse sand particles (particle size d>1.18mm) which
varied between batches. In this study the specimen, after each triaxial test, was
collected and dried, and then the coarse sand particles were sieved out and weighed.
The results indicated that the contents of coarse sand particles were in the range of
0.9%~3.6%. The coarse sand particles were distinctly visible and floating on sandy
silt particles (particle size d<1.18mm). This material behaved as binary mix as
proposed by Thevanayagam and Mohan (2000), i.e., coarse sand particles in a sandy
silt particle matrix. Thus, the global void ratio eg was corrected for different
percentage of coarse sand particles as interfine void ratio e =eg/fc, where fc is the
percentage of particle d<1.18mm (Thevanayagam and Mohan 2000).
The silt content (d<75μm) of the material without coarse sand particles was
found to be about 68% on average. The representative particle size distribution curve
which was determined by laser particle size analyser is presented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Particle size distribution curve of the tested pond ash

Triaxial testing system

A triaxial system with automatic data logging and strain control capability was
used for this study. Cell and pore pressure/volume change were controlled by two
Digital Pressure Volume Controllers (DPVC). Axial deformation was measured by a
pair of internal LVDTs and one external LVDT. Internal LVDTs were used for the
measurement at early stage, and the external one was used at large deformation.
Axial force was measured by an internal submergible load cell.

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In order to achieve “element behaviour”, which requires the stress and strain
distributions inside the specimen are sufficiently uniform, enlarged platens with free
ends were employed as per recommendation by Lo et al. (1989). Cylindrical
specimens with height of 100mm and diameter of 100mm were prepared by a newly
developed slurry deposition (SD) technique, which will be further discussed in the
next subsection. All the specimens were saturated to ensure B-value>0.98 by vacuum
flushing and back pressure.
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Slurry deposition

Material with predetermined dry mass was mixed with predetermined volume of
de-ionized and de-aired water to obtain pond ash slurry with moisture content in the
range of 55% to 60%. This range of moisture content was determined according to
the in-situ slurry disposal. The slurry was then put under vacuum at 90kPa for
45mins to remove the trapped bubbles, before the deposition process. The membrane,
split mould and extension piece were first installed on the bottom platen as shown in
Fig. 2. The well stirred saturated slurry was then placed in each layer by a ladle
shape spoon in small quantities (about 2/3 spoon) from about 1cm above the surface
of the underlying layer. The whole specimen was prepared in 5 layers, and each layer
was left to settle for 45mins. Any water seeped out from the surface was carefully
soaked up by tissue paper. The whole deposition was conducted under minimum
disturbance and this gave the highest void ratio achievable by SD. On the other hand,
lower void ratio was achieved by applying vibration symmetrically to the specimen
after the deposition process was finished.

Fig. 2. Cross section of specimen preparation mould

Once the whole deposition process and vibration (if any) were finished, the
drainage valve in the bottom platen would be opened and connected to a negative
water head at about 1m (equal to -10kPa) for draining out the remaining water on the
surface of the specimen. When the surface became slightly unsaturated, the extension
piece could then be removed. The extra material (normally 1~2mm in height) was
trimmed off with care, before the top platen was mounted over the level surface of
the top layer. After that, the drainage valve in the bottom would be shut, a small

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amount of vacuum (about -5kPa) was applied from the top platen to secure the
specimen, and then the split mould was dismantled.

Testing programme

The testing programme for this study comprised 29 drained and 18 undrained
triaxial compression tests conducted under a variety of stress histories, covering a
range of p′0, where p′=(σ′1+2σ′3)/3, from 50kPa to 1300kPa and a range of e0 (e
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before shearing) from 0.662 to 0.948. Isotropic pre-consolidated tests and drained
pre-sheared tests were conducted to study the influence of stress history on critical
state. Summary of the testing programme in this study is given in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of the testing programme

Drainage Stress histories Number

Isotropic consolidated 12
Drained
Isotropic pre-consolidated 9
(dσ′3=0)
Drained pre-sheared (dσ′3=0) 8
Isotropic consolidated 12
Undrained
Isotropic pre-consolidated 1
(dεv=0)
Drained pre-sheared (dσ′3=0) 5

RESULTS

Isotropic consolidation

The isotropic consolidation lines (ICL) of pond ash specimens with different
initial void ratios ei (e before consolidation) are presented in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. ICLs of the tested pond ash specimens with different ei

Fig. 3 shows that ICLs up to 1300kPa for specimens with different ei are not
unique and also not parallel. Under the same increment of p′, specimen with a higher
ei undergoes a higher decrement in e. Hence, the isotropic consolidation response of
pond ash is similar to that of sand (Li and Dafalias 2000).

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Typical drained test results

Three typical consolidated drained test (CD) results are presented in Fig. 4. As
shown in Fig. 4 (a) and (b), CD32 undergoes strain-hardening with a strong
contractive trend, whilst CD51 goes through slight strain-softening with a weak
dilative trend. Both of these specimens are close to critical state as both the q-ε1 and
εv-ε1 curves, where q=σ′1-σ′3, are about to level off at the end of the test. However,
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for CD52, which undergoes intense strain-softening with a strong dilative trend,
signs of strain localization (e.g. sudden kink of q-ε1 curve) appear at axial strain (ε1)
approaching 10%, shortly after passing the peak point of q.
The stress-dilatancy relationships are presented by R-D curves in Fig. 4 (c). Due
to the strain hardening and contractive nature, the R-D curve of CD32 is monotone
increasing toward the critical state point where R=Rcs, D=1. On the other hand, for
the strain softening and dilative behaviour, like CD51 and CD52, R-D curve will
travel upward till reaching the peak stress ratio Rpeak, before going back down toward
the critical state point. For those specimens which are close to critical state at the end
of tests, like CD32 and CD51, their R-D curves end up close to line D=1. However,
for the specimens suffering early occurrence of strain localization, like CD52, the R-
D curves end up far away from line D=1. Apart from CD52, specimens with strong
dilative trend (Dpeak>1.2) all suffered early occurrence (ε1<10%) of strain localization
in CD tests in this study.

Fig. 4. Typical drained test results (1): (a) q-ε1, (b) εv-ε1 and (c) R-D

As discussed above, at the end of CD tests, some specimens are close to but not
actually reaching critical state, like CD32 and CD51. Hence, a slight extrapolation is

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necessary and justified to obtain the critical state points for CD tests. Here, CD32 is
taken as an example to explain the extrapolation technique employed in this study.
According to the definition of critical state in CD test, dεv/dε1=0 is one of the
necessary conditions, which means the R-D curve should theoretically touch D=1 at
critical state. Hence, the critical stress ratio Rcs can be obtained by extrapolating the
R-D curve to D=1, as indicated in Fig. 5 (a). Once Rcs is known, p′cs and qcs can then
be calculated with ease, because σ′3 is a constant in CD tests. On the other hand, ecs
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can be obtained by extrapolating the η-e curve to ηcs, as shown in Fig. 5 (b).
The extrapolation technique introduced above is reliable and convenient, and the
same approach can also be applied to the dilative behaviour, like CD51. However, it
is important to note that this is a linear extrapolation; hence, the accuracy can only be
held when critical state is close. Therefore, for specimens suffering early occurrence
of strain localization, like CD52, this extrapolation technique would not be suitable.
As a result, such tests were not used for plotting critical state line.

Fig. 5. Extrapolation technique for CD tests: (a) R-D and (b) η-e

Typical undrained test results

Three typical consolidated undrained test (CU) results are presented in Fig. 6. It
can be seen that all three specimens show non-flow behaviour, and non-flow is the
only behaviour pattern that achieved in CU tests in this study.

Fig. 6. Typical undrained test results (1): (a) q-ε1 and (b) Δu-ε1

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The q-ε1 and Δu-ε1 curves of CU35 and CU41 both levelled off at the end of tests,
which is in agreement with the conditions of critical state for undrained test. Hence,
critical state can be achieved without any extrapolation. However, CU45 had to be
terminated prior to critical state, when strong tendency of change in q and Δu can
still be seen, due to limitation of load cell capacity. No attempt was made to
extrapolate the critical state for CU45 and specimens manifested similar behaviour.
As a result, such tests were not used for plotting critical state line.
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Critical state line

All critical state data points achieved in this study are plotted in e-logp′ and q-p′
spaces, as indicated by the hollow symbols in Fig. 7. Evidently, all critical state data
points followed a single trend in e-logp′ and q-p′ spaces; hence, a unique and
consistent critical state line (CSL) was achieved, despite the difference in drainage
condition and stress history. However, as shown in Fig. 7 (a), this CSL in e-logp′
space is not a straight line but with a slight curvature. Hence, a quadratic function in
semi-log space was used to fit this CSL as follows:
e = -0.031×(lgp′)2 + 0.010×lgp′ + 1.044
It gives a good fit with a root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 0.005. On the
other hand, the CSL in q-p′ space can be fitted by a straight line passing through the
origin, as indicated in Fig. 7 (b), and it gives that the critical stress ratio M is 1.356.

Fig. 7. Critical states and CSL for the tested pond ash: (a) ecs-p′cs and (b) qcs-p′cs

Relationship between drained behaviour and ψ0

The η-ε1 curves of the previously discussed drained tests CD32, CD51 and CD52
are presented in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the drained behaviour pattern is correlated
with the initial state parameter ψ0, as defined by Been and Jefferies (1985). Positive
ψ0 leads to contractive/strain hardening behaviour, like CD32, whilst negative
ψ0 leads to dilative/strain softening behaviour, like CD51 and CD52. Moreover, for
dilative/strain softening behaviour, the peak stress ratio ηpeak is a variable of ψ0. A
more negative ψ0 gives rise to a higher ηpeak.
In CD tests, the separation between contractive and dilative region is defined as
characteristic state (CH), at which dεv/dε1=0 (Lade and Ibsen 1997). In stress-

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dilatancy relationship, CH state corresponds to the crossing point of the R-D curve
and line D=1. As indicated in Fig. 4 (c) (see Fig. 8 for ψ0 of each test), such crossing
point is distinguishably moving downward as ψ0 drops. That means the stress ratio
RCH at CH state is not a constant, but varies as ψ0 changes. As ψ0 increases, RCH will
rise and tend to RCS as ψ0 tends to 0.
From the above discussion, it can be seen that, ηpeak or Rpeak and RCH are both
variables of ψ0. Hence, the stress-dilatancy relationship of pond ash is dependent on
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ψ0, which is sand-type behaviour (Li and Dafalias 2000).

Fig. 8. Typical drained test results (2): η-ε1

Relationship between undrained behaviour and ψ0

The η-ε1 curves of the previously discussed undrained tests CU35, CU41 and
CU45 are presented in Fig. 9 (a). It can be seen that η will initially reach a peak
value ηpeak, and then undergoes a subsequent drop and tends toward M when
approaching critical state. Moreover, ψ0 has a similar effect over the ηpeak like CD
tests. A lower ψ0 leads to a higher ηpeak. For CU41, of which the ψ0 is slightly
positive at 0.042, ηpeak can also be observed, though it is only slightly higher than M.
In order to compare tests conducted under different p′0, normalized effective
stress paths (ESP) are presented in Fig. 9 (b). It can be seen that the ESPs of these
three tests were all initially bent to the left, which implies contractive tendency of the
specimens. And for the specimen with a higher ψ0, the ESP can go further to the left
than the others, implying the possession of a higher initial contractive tendency.
After the temporary contractive tendency, the ESPs shift their directions and
move to the right towards critical state. The state where this transition happens is
defined by dp′/dε1=0 and called phase transformation state (PT) (Lade and Ibsen
1997). From Fig. 9 (b), it can be seen that the phase transformation lines (PTLs) of
specimens with different ψ0 are not unique. The stress ratio ηPT, when PT happens,
increases as ψ0 rises.
From Fig. 9 (b), it can be seen that the ESPs of CU45 and CU35, which start off
with a negative ψ0, can distinguishably climb above line η =M after passing PT. And
the lower the ψ0 is, the higher the ESP can climb. This behaviour is in agreement
with the peak stress ratio responses presented in Fig. 9 (a).

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From the above discussion, it can be seen that, ηpeak and ηPT in undrained tests
are also correlated to ψ0.
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Fig. 9. Typical undrained test results (2): (a) η-ε1 and (b) Normalized ESP

Evaluation of CSSM framework on pond ash

The distribution of initial states (after consolidation) of the consolidated tests is

indicated by solid symbols in Fig. 10. It can be seen that most of the initial states are
located on the negative side of CSL, therefore SD technique cannot produce
specimen with an initial state located far above CSL in this study.

Fig. 10. Distribution of initial states

The initial states of CD tests with contractive/strain hardening behaviour are

located above CSL, whereas the dilative/strain softening ones are initially below
CSL. But for CU tests, only non-flow behaviour was observed, even when the initial
state is slightly above CSL. It can be seen that ψ0 is correlated to contractive and
dilative behaviours rather than flow, limit-flow and non-flow. Note that in undrained
condition, dεv=dεve+dεvp=0, contractive behaviour implies dεvp>0 and dεve <0, thus
dp′<0. Form q=ηp′, it can be deduced that dq= p′dη+ηdp′; hence, dp′<0 does not
necessarily lead to dq<0, i.e., contractive does not necessarily imply flow or limit
flow. As discussed in previous subsection, the specimens with a higher ψ0 exhibited
a higher initial contractive tendency. Therefore, the behaviour patterns of pond ash

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were actually in agreement with CSSM framework, despite the fact that flow and
limit-flow behaviours cannot be observed in this study.

CONCLUSIONS

The applicability of the CSSM framework on predicting pond ash behaviour was
evaluated under monotonic triaxial testing in this study. The main outcomes can be
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summarized as follows,
a) Pond ash specimens with different initial void ratios yielded different ICLs.
b) A unique CSL was achieved for pond ash specimens prepared by SD
technique, despite the drainage condition and stress history.
c) SD technique simulating ash pond deposition could not produce loose enough
specimens to lead to flow and limit-flow behaviours.
d) The characteristic behaviours of pond ash (e.g. Rpeak and RCH in drained tests,
ηpeak and ηPT in undrained tests) were found to be correlated with ψ0.
e) The behaviour of pond ash was in general sand-like and in agreement with
CSSM framework.
In conclusion, despite the fact that flow and limit-flow behaviours cannot be
observed in this study, CSSM framework is applicable in predicting the behaviour of
pond ash because a unique CSL was achieved, and it facilitates correlations between
characteristic behaviours and ψ0, which can lead to the modelling of behaviour.

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