STABILITY ANALYSIS OF ASH DYKES IN STATIC PSEUDOSTATIC AND

SEISMIC CONDITIONS

Priyanka Talukdari), Ruplekha Bora ii) and Arindam Dey iii)

i) Phd Research Scholar, Dept of civil engineering, IIT GUWAHATI, email- priyanka.talukdar@iitg.ernet.in
ii) Trainee Engineer, GAMMON INDIA LTD., Bombay,, email- ruplekhabora888@gmail.com
iii) Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT GUWAHATI, email- arindamdeyiitk@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

With the progressive increase in the number of coal based thermal power plants, generation of fly-ash have increased
manifold. Only 40-50% of the produced fly-ash being re-used for engineering purposes, the storage of fly-ash is a concern.
Generally, fly-ash is stored in slurry form in reservoirs termed as ash-ponds. These reserves are built with specific capacity
and needs to be further expanded when the fly-ash slurry nearly reaches the brim. The expansion mostly takes place in the
vertical direction, wherein new dykes are built over and above the existing earthen embankment; such expansions are
termed as raisings. Different techniques of construction of raising are available namely inward, outward and central
raisings. Although being the most common and preferred, the inward raising, being resting on the hardened pond ash and
subjected to fresh pond-ash filling, has pertinent stability and seepage concerns. This paper highlights on the stability
aspects during the stage wise construction of an ash-dyke with raising. Limit equilibrium (LE) and Finite Element (FE)
techniques are adopted to explore the aspects of stability for static and pseudo-static conditions. An equivalent linear
seismic analysis is also carried out to illustrate the stability aspects of the ash dyke during the seismic condition. The
performance of these dykes has been computed using the SEEP/W, SIGMA/W, SLOPE/W and QUAKE/W modules in
GEOSTUDIO 2007. The limit equilibrium and finite element methods have been used to study the stability of these dykes
in SIGMA/W and SLOPE/W modules whereas the dynamic behavior of these ash dykes has been studied in QUAKE/W to
analyze its stability in the seismic conditions. Stability of the ash dyke has been defined in terms of safety factors obtained
from the analyses. A comparative note is provided to highlight the aspects of various types of analysis on the stability
assessment of ash dykes.

Keywords: Fly ash dyke, Stability analysis, Static, Pseudo-static, Equivalent Linear Dynamic, SEEP/W, SLOPE/W,
SIGMA/W, QUAKE/W

1 INTRODUCTION
Only a small quantity of the fly ash generated every
year from the thermal plants and cement plants have
been used in applications such as concrete, brick
making, soil stabilization treatment, construction of ash
dykes, earth fills etc. A large part of the generated fly
ash remains unutilized and it is generally disposed on to
the onsite storage ponds known as fly ash dykes. These
reserves are built with specific capacity and needs to be
further expanded when the fly-ash slurry nearly reaches
the brim. In order to take care of the storage
subsequently, expansion of these dykes is required and
it occurs in the vertical directions by constructing new
dykes above the existing embankments known as
raisings. Although these raisings are of three types
namely inward, outward and central raisings, the
inward raising is the most preferred for the ash
impoundment due to size constraints. The raising
however, rests on the deposited ash which is a weak
soil thus providing an inadequate bearing capacity for
the support of the new dykes and thereby making it
vulnerable and prone to stability and seepage concerns.
Stability of these ash dykes are of utmost necessity and
the same has been the sole motive of this paper. This
paper highlights the stability analysis of one such fly
ash dykes with a raising located at Wanakbori, Gujarat,
under the static, pseudo-static and dynamic conditions.
The formulations have been carried out in LE and FE
methods to study the stability in the static pseudostatic
and seismic conditions.
Many established methods based on limit equilibrium
approach are available, namely, Bishops method
(1955), Janbus method (1957), Morgenstern-Price
method (1965) and Spencers method (1967).
However, it is not always possible to obtain realistic
stress distributions along the slip surface and localized
shear stress concentrations are, of course, not captured
in a limit equilibrium formation. The finite element
formulations therefore have to be carried out to
establish the stress distributions in the ground and then
to use these stresses in a stability analysis. This idea has
been implemented in SLOPE/W. The ground stresses
can be computed using SIGMA/W, and SLOPE/W uses
the SIGMA/W stresses to compute the actual safety
factors. The dynamic behavior and the effect of water
from the pond ash can be studied by the QUAKW/W
and SEEP/W modules of GEOSTUDIO 2007
respectively. The software also enables to combine
multiple analyses using different products into a single
modeling project and the stability, deformations and the
various stress and pore pressure conditions can be
easily understood using its various features.
2 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND ANALYSIS
METHODOLOGIES
For the present study the four different construction
stages of the model ash dyke along with its dimension
are presented below from Fig. 1a to Fig. 1d.
Fig.1a. Stage1: Starter dyke
Fig.1b. Stage2: Starter dyke + pond ash slurry
Fig.1c.Stage3: Raised dyke (material used to raise the
dyke is same as the starter dyke)
Fig.1d.Stage4: Raised dyke + raised pond ash slurry
The relevant parameters used for the analysis of the ash
dyke are:
For the embankment soil
c=18, = 22, = 18.5 kN/m3
For pond ash slurry
c=5, = 5 , = 10 kN/m3
For the fill soil at the toe of the raised dyke
c=20, = 24 , = 18.5 kN/m3
The stage wise stability analysis of the ash dyke had
been carried out for the static, pseudostatic and
dynamic conditions. Among the various limit
equilibrium methods available in SLOPE/W 2007,
Morgenstern-Price method was used for static and
pseudo-static analysis and the entry exit specification
had been used to define the slip surfaces in the
upstream and in the downstream sections of the dyke.
The pseudostatic stability analysis had been carried out
by considering the zone factors of the four seismic
zones (IS 1893.1) as the horizontal seismic coefficient
and the vertical seismic coefficient was taken as 0.075.
For the dynamic analysis, the initial stresses had been
obtained from an insitu analysis in SIGMA/W for the
first stage of construction and the analysis of the
corresponding stages of construction had been carried
out by the load/deformation method in SIGMA/W.
Thereafter, for each stage an equivalent linear dynamic
analysis had been performed in QUAKE/W. By this
way, finite element stability values before and after the
earthquake were obtained for all the stages.
For the equivalent linear dynamic analysis QUAKE/W
steps through the entire earthquake record and
identifies the peak shear strains at each Gauss
numerical integration point in each element. The shear
modulus is then modified according to a specified G
reduction function. This iterative procedure continues
until the required G modifications are within a specified
tolerance. The cyclic shear strain is obtained from the
finite element analysis. The computed shear strain
together with the function and the specified Gmax are
used to compute new G values for each of the
iterations. As with Gmax, the damping ratio in
QUAKE/W can be specified as a constant, or as a
function. The damping ratio is a function of the cyclic
shear strain, similar to the G-reduction function.
Damping ratio was considered to be constant for this
analysis.
The ash dyke used in this study is located in seismic
Zone III but this analysis had been carried out by
adopting maximum considered earthquake (MCE) with
a PGA of 0.35g to check its stability conditions in the
worst scenario. The initial stress conditions in the
dynamic analysis had been incorporated from the
SIGMA/W analysis. In the dynamic analysis, a
Poissons ratio and a damping factor of 0.35 and 0.1
respectively were taken which is same for the
embankment soil, for the pond ash and for the fill soil.
However the value of Gmax for pond ash was 18 MPa
and that for the other two materials was 7 MPa. The G-
reduction function, which gives the response of the soil
to cyclic shear strains when subjected to dynamic
stresses, was computed considering a confining
pressure of 100kPa for all the three materials. The
effect of water due to the pond ash slurry had been
included in the study by a steady state analysis using
saturated/unsaturated only model for the embankment
soil and saturated only model for the other two
materials in SEEP/W. The PWP conditions in all the
other analysis had been derived from the corresponding
SEEP/W analysis.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Static Analysis using LE method
The results from the static stability analysis using
Morgenstern-Price method based on LE formulation
has been presented in Table 1. The analysis had been
carried out for two different stages of construction.
Table 1: Stability values from static analysis using LE
method
Stages FoS Values
Upstream side Downstream side
Stage 2: Starter dyke + 2.426 1.258
pond ash slurry
Stage 4 : Raised dyke+ 4.059 1.473
raised pond ash slurry
From the static analysis the upstream side of the dykes
gave higher stability values as compared to the
downstream side in both the cases. Also, stage 4
resulted in higher FoS values as compared to stage 2.
One of the FoS values for the upstream side of the ash
dyke from static analysis using LE method is shown
below in Fig. 2.
Fig.2. FoS value from static analysis using LE method.
3.2 Pseudostatic Analysis
A pseudostatic analysis represents the effects of
earthquake shaking by accelerations that create inertial
forces, thereby reducing the FoS value. The variation of
FoS values corresponding to different horizontal
seismic coefficients applicable to different zones is
shown below in Fig. 3.
Fig.3. Variation of FoS values with kh in pseudostatic
analysis.
It is seen that FoS value decreases with increase in
horizontal seismic acceleration (kh) for both the stages
along the upstream and downstream sides of the dykes.
However the downstream side of the dyke shows
failure in both the stages with increase in kh values.
3.3 Static Analysis using FE method
The static analysis using the FE formulation makes it
possible to conduct a stage wise stability analysis
starting from the construction of the starter dyke till the
filling of the raised dyke with the pond ash slurry, using
SIGMA/W. The initial insitu stresses were first
generated using insitu analysis then the addition of the
pond ash in the subsequent stages were analyzed using
load/deformation method of SIGMA/W. The FoS
values by FE analysis before the application of
earthquake motion for all the different stages are
presented below in Table 2.
Table 2: Stability values from static analysis using FE
method
Stages FoS Values
Upstream side Downstream side
Stage 1: Starter dyke 1.700 1.883
Stage 2: Starter dyke + 2.520 1.767
pond ash slurry
Stage 3: Raised dyke 1.492 1.670
Stage 4 : Raised dyke+ 3.629 1.310
raised pond ash slurry
From the stability analysis using the FE formulation it
is observed that the ash dyke is stable in all the stages
of the construction as the FoS values are well within the
stable range. One of the FoS values for the downstream
side of the ash dyke from static analysis using FE
method is shown below in Fig. 4.
Fig.4. FoS value from static analysis using FE method.
3.4 Dynamic Analysis
A dynamic analysis had been carried out using the
Equivalent Linear model in QUAKE/W with the
specified soil stiffness. In Equivalent Linear analysis,
QUAKE/W generated stress is incorporated in
SLOPE/W to determine the finite element based FoS
values for the entire duration of earthquake applied. An
earthquake of 10 sec duration and having peak
horizontal acceleration of 0.35g had been applied in the
dynamic analysis. The variation of the FoS values with
the duration of the input earthquake motion is shown
below for the four different stages along the upstream
and downstream side of the dyke from Fig. 5 to Fig. 8.
Fig.5. Variation of FoS values with time for stage 1
Fig.6. Variation of FoS values with time for stage 2
Fig.7. Variation of FoS values with time for stage 3
Fig.8. Variation of FoS values with time for stage 4
From the FoS vs time plots it was observed that the
variation of factor of safety with respect to time is
nearly comparable along the upstream and downstream
sides for stage 1 and stage 3. However a distinct
variation in the FoS values along the two sides was
observed in stage 2 and stage 4, where in both the
stages higher FoS values were obtained along the
upstream side of the dyke for the entire earthquake
duration as compared to the downstream side.
Further from the figures it can be concluded that in
reality the factor of safety value varies dramatically
both above and below the static factor of safety. The
factor of safety may even momentarily fall below 1.0,
but this does not mean the slope will necessarily totally
collapse.
The x- acceleration vs time plot had been shown below
in Fig. 9 for all the four different stages of construction
along the crest of the ash dyke.
Fig.9. x-acceleration vs time at the crest of the dyke
From figure 9 it is evident that an amplification of the
x-acceleration along the crest of the dyke had occurred
for all the stage of construction, as the peak horizontal
acceleration is more than applied peak acceleration of
0.35g as shown below in Fig. 10
Fig.10. Acceleration vs Time of the input motion
The deformation and displacement characteristics of the
ash dykes before and after the earthquake motion along
with the development of the phreatic line for two
different stages of construction has been shown below
from Fig.11 to Fig. 14
Fig.9. Figure showing displacement contours before
seismic shaking for stage 2

Fig.10. Figure showing displacement contours and
deformed mesh after seismic shaking for stage 2
Fig.11. Figure showing displacement contours before
seismic shaking for stage 4
Fig.12. Figure showing displacement contours and
deformed mesh after seismic shaking for stage 4
From the figures it is observed that before the
earthquake motion there had been small displacement
with maximum value of 0.0045m for stage 2 and
0.016m for stage 4, indicating a rise in the value of
displacement with the construction of the raising. Also
the level of phreatic line increases with the rise in the
pond ash filling level. However after the incorporation
of the earthquake motion for the same two stages the
deformation of the ash dykes were observed. The
maximum displacement values had also increased by
0.192m for stage 2 and 0.212m for stage 4 as compared
to the static case. The rise in the phreatic line due to the
generation of pore pressure during earthquake shaking
can also be observed when compared to the static
analysis for the same two stages.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper reports the stability analysis of a pond ash
dyke with raising having c- soil material for the
embankment soil and for the fill soil and a very low c-
slurry material with unit weight as that of water, for the
pond ash. The one step raising of the ash dyke was
done with the same embankment material. In first
analysis stage, stability of ash dyke under static and
pseudo-static condition was investigated in terms of
FoS using Morgenstern-Price limit equilibrium method.
In second analysis stage, insitu and load/deformation
analysis was carried out in SIGMA/W for various
stages of ash dyke raisings and finite element based
FoS was determined before the inclusion of the
earthquake motion. In the final analysis stage
equivalent linear dynamic analysis was conducted and
QUAKE/W generated stress was incorporated in
SLOPE/W for determination of finite element based
FoS values for the earthquake time history assigned.
From the analyses it can be concluded that the ash dyke
considered for this study is stable in both the static and
dynamic conditions. As for the method of analysis is
concerned in static conditions the stability values from
the FE method are more realistic than the those
obtained from LE method as it can capture the stress
distributions and stress concentrations. In the dynamic
case the pseudo-static method provides largely
conservative estimate of the stability of the ash dykes in
the sense that it accounts for the peak earthquake
acceleration to be acting on the ash dyke for an
indefinite time. Thus, a rigorous dynamic analysis
should be conducted to analyze the actual scenario of
an ash dyke during the entire duration of earthquake. It
can also be concluded that momentary reduction in the
FoS during the ongoings of the earthquake might not
lead to a complete collapse of the ash dyke.
In this study equivalent linear dynamic analysis had
been conducted in which excess pore-pressures can be
computed only at the end of the dynamic analysis to
overcome this limitation and to capture excess pore
pressure during the earthquake shaking (condition more
closely related to the real field), a Non-Linear effective
stress method can be carried out for this study in future.
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