Coal Ash, a byproduct of coal combustion in power plants, is usually disposed in surface impoundments or wet disposal areas and landfill sites. Toxic substances contained in coal ash which slowly seep into the groundwater and aquifers in nearby impoundments, and which are also dispersed by wind and storm water in landfill sites, lead to serious health and environmental effects. The main focus of this study is to analyze the strength characteristics of the recycled coal ash mixed with dredged soil to test its capabilities from external forces such as in the stacking of geotextile tubes. The SEM and XRF analysis were carried out in order to grasp the grain size and composition of the coal ash and the dredged soil. To find the optimum mixing ratio of the coal ash and dredge soil, the type of deformation and the strength of the different mixtures were obtained by performing a uniaxial compression test. The relationship between the compressive stress and deformation of the uniaxial compression test and the tubular structure formed by injecting the coal ash into geotextile tube was confirmed and the applicability of the geotextile tube reinforced with the recycled and improved fill material is very high.

The geotextile tube’s performance in strength, dewatering, retaining solid particles and stacked stability have been studied extensively in the past. However, only little research have been done in the observation of stress behavior of geotextile tubes. In this paper, a large-scale apparatus for geotextile tube experiment is introduced. Model tests was conducted using a custom made woven geotextile tubes. Load cells placed at the inner belly of the geotextile tube to monitor the total soil pressure. The pressure sensors are attached to a data logger which sends the collected data to a desktop computer. The experiment results showed that the maximum geotextile the soil pressure distribution varies at each geotextile tube section.

A series of injection and drainage test were conducted on an circular acrylic tube to investigate the pressure generated by the accumulated fill materials inside a circular acrylic tube structure. The acrylic tube was filled by means of gravity filling with a slurry material having an average water content of 700%. The water head during the filling process was 1.8m and the bottom pressure during initial filling was 20.18kPa. The recorded stress at the sides of the acrylic tube was 17.89kPa during the filling process and was reduced to 13.58kPa during the leaving process. Continuous drainage of the acrylic tube has greatly influenced the stresses around the tube structure. As the water is gradually allowed to overflow, the generated pressure at the topmost pressure sensor of the tube was reduced further to 2.17kPa. Eventually, the initially liquid state slurry material transforms into plastic state after water has dissipated and substantial soil particles are deposited in the acrylic tube. The final water content of the deposited silt inside the acrylic tube after the test was 42%. It was found that the state of stresses(geo-static earth pressures) in the acrylic tube was anisotropic rather than isotropic.

An experiment have been conducted to investigate the behavior of dredged fills on flexible containers (scale model geotextile tubes). The study was focused on the development of geotextile strain. The model geotextile tube is made of woven geotextile material. Results showed that during the dewatering stage, the tube height decreases and the tube width increases. This increases the density of the confined fill material and the tensile reaction of the tube. The compaction effect on top of the geotextile tube decreases as the tube height reduces. On the other hand, the confinement effect at the sides of the geotextile tube increases as the tensile reaction intensifies. As a result, The geotextile strain increases as the value of the coefficient of lateral pressure is increased.