Potential use of fly ash in structural fill application: a review

Globally, over the years, fly ash (FA) has been successfully used in structural fills as a substitute for conventional infill material. As per the global industry trends and forecast report, the utilization rate of FA in 2021 was 74% in China, 65% in India, and 70% in the United States (US). Despite substantial research being done on the usage of FA as a substitute all over the world, only up to 15% by mass of total produce has been utilized as a replacement for infill soils. This indicates that there is a lot of potential for increased usage. From the view point of increasing the utilization rate, the present study focuses on summarizing the geotechnical properties of FA by taking strength characteristics into account as compared to conventional infill material. Moreover, this review underlines the chemical composition, index, and engineering properties. Firstly, it reviews the current state of the application of FA in structural fills by considering 141 articles that have been published since 2004 to till date. Secondly, it emphasizes the limited literature available on structural fill applications of FA. It also recommends the classification of FA besides the existing ASTM codes. Moreover, considering future research, this review also highlights the gaps in the previous studies, such as the need for amendments in existing standard codes for FA utilization as structural fill.