Suitability of Gini moraines as natural pozzolanic material for Diamer Basha dam project

doi:10.1680/jcoma.17.00007

Suitability of Gini moraines as natural pozzolanic material for Diamer Basha dam project

Authors:

Syed Zishan Ashiq, MSc

Search for articles by this author

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Pakistan

Muhammad Junaid Munir, MSc

Search for articles by this author

PhD student, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Junior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Pakistan (corresponding author: [email protected])

Syed Minhaj Saleem Kazmi, MSc

Search for articles by this author

PhD student, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Junior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Pakistan

Anwar Khitab, PhD

Search for articles by this author

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Pakistan

Muhammad Hassan, MSc

Search for articles by this author

Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Pakistan

Babar Naseem Khan Raja, MSc

Search for articles by this author

Junior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Pakistan

Author Affiliations

https://doi.org/10.1680/jcoma.17.00007

Published Online: July 08, 2019

Key:

Open access content

Subscribed content

Free content

Trial content

Abstract

Diamer Basha dam is to be located on the mighty Indus River about 315 km upstream of Tarbela dam. The dam will be 272 m high and constructed from roller-compacted concrete (RCC). Earlier studies for the RCC mixture and placement conditions regarding heat development showed that extensive use of cement substitutes is essential for the construction of the RCC dam. The total amount of cementitious substitutes will be up to 2·0 Mt, which need to be supplied over a period of 4·5–5 years. Potential substitutes (blast-furnace slag from Pakistan Steel Mills, Karachi and fly ash from Lakhra, Pakistan and Bathinda, India) were considered unfeasible due to low production capacities, long distances from the project site and political reasons. In this study, locally available potential pozzolanic materials from Gini Gah, about 54 km upstream of the dam site, were investigated through physical, chemical and pozzolanic activity tests to assess their suitability for use in mass concrete. The results revealed that glacial moraines obtained from Gini are acceptable for use in RCC.

Keywords:

concrete structures dams, barrages & reservoirs strength & testing of materials