PURPOSES : Recently, the generation of industrial by-products has been increased owing to the increase in electrical power consumption. This experimental study investigated a special mortar development using outstanding benefits of porous structures in heavy oil fly ash (HOFA) and bottom ash (BA) to reduce heat transfer and weight of tunnel repair mortar. METHODS : Based on the concept of materials usable for this objective being porous and light, the physical and chemical properties of heavy oil fly ash and bottom ash were analyzed to determine the application possibility for tunnel repair mortar. In addition to satisfying this primary requirement, the research aimed at determining the relationships between the characteristics of porous structures and effectiveness of reducing weight and thermal conductivity. This study was undertaken on the use of bottom ash as fine aggregate and heavy oil ash as filler in mortar mix proportion. Four different levels of bottom ash (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, and 5%), and 10%, 15%, and 20% of heavy oil fly ash were investigated to determine the proper replacement amount within the designed specification. According to the analytic results on the effectiveness of both by-products and chemical additives, the repair mortar with optimum mixture proportion was investigated using various tests including thermal conductivity and porosity. RESULTS : The use of porous by-products increased the demand for mixing water in obtaining the required flowability, but the compressive strength did not decrease significantly in proportion by adding an amount of bottom ash. Based on the results, bottom ash can be replaced with aggregate as much as 50%, but adding an amount of heavy oil ash is suggested as below 10% in formulation. CONCLUSIONS : The optimized repair mortar, which was produced by conclusive formulation, was evaluated as a high-performance material to repair tunnels with the effectiveness of porous and remarkable physical properties.