Insitu Investigation of Cinder Mound For Building Construction - A Case Study

Cinder is a waste generated as coal residues from the blast furnace of thermal power plant. It was accumulated over a long periods near railway station, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. This dumping yard looks like a mound covering an area of around 10 acres. At present, it is in the middle of inhabitants and occupying costly land. It has wide level ground on the top of mound. To utilize for construction of building over it or as a structural fill, insitu and laboratory investigations were carried out. Different tests conducted viz. Geophysical electrical resistivity test (GERT), Standard penetration test (SPT), Dynamic cone penetration test (DCPT) and plate load test (PLT). Resistivity test was carried out covering the whole area while SPT, DCPT and PLT were carried out at selected locations. It was observed that cinder is a coarse grained, non plastic and present in loose state. The paper presents and discusses the results of insitu and laboratory geotechnical investigations. Based on results, it was concluded that it may be used as a structural fill or for building construction over it.

A.K. Sinha, V.G. Havanagi and V K Kanaujia, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, India

Introduction