Abstract—Bottom ash from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) can be viewed as a typical granular material because these industrial by-products result from the incineration of various domestic wastes. MSWI bottom ash is mainly used in road engineering in substitution of the traditional natural aggregates. As the characterization of their mechanical behavior is essential in order to use them, specific studies have been led over the past few years. In the first part of this paper, the mechanical behavior of MSWI bottom ash is studied with triaxial tests. After, analysis of the experiment results, the simulation of triaxial tests is carried out by using the software package CESAR-LCPC. As the first approach in modeling of this new class material, the Mohr-Coulomb model was chosen to describe the evolution of material under the influence of external mechanical actions. Keywords—Bottom ash, granular material, triaxial test, mechanical behavior, simulation, Mohr-Coulomb model, CESAR- LCPC. I. INTRODUCTION SWI bottom ash is the solid residue issue of the domestic waste combustion in the furnace of the incineration factory, which represents 25-30% in mass and 10 % in volume of incinerated wastes [1]-[3], [10], [11]. In France, about 3 million tons of bottom ash are annually produced [4], [5], [12], [13]. The increasing amount of the MSWI bottom ash production leads to two main issues, which are environmental impacts and limitation of the MSWI bottom ash storage. While the granulate quarry is becoming more and more nearly exhausted, it is difficult to create new quarries in the context of sustainable development. Currently MSWI bottom ash is mainly used in the domain of civil engineering for realizing embankments, road layers and parkings areas, etc. [6], [14], [26]-[31]. But the mechanical properties of MSWI bottom ash are still poorly known (empirical use) even if some studies of MSWI bottom ash have provided very encouraging results mainly on the experimental aspects [2], [7], [20]-[25]. However, the Abriak Nor-Edine and Benzerzour Mahfoud are with the Mines de Douai, France (Corresponding author: Abriak Nor-Edine, e-mail: nor-edine.abriak@ mines-douai.fr, mahfoud.benzerzour@mines-douai.fr). Le Ngoc Hung was with the Mines de Douai, France (e-mail: lipton_estc@yahoo.fr). Binetruy Christophe is with the Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France (e-mail: christophe.binetruy@ec-nantes.fr). Shahrour Isam is with the Université de Lille 1, France (e-mail: isam.shahrour@univ-lille1.fr). Patrice Rivard is with the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada (Patrice.Rivard@USherbrooke.ca). selection and the development of an appropriate model suitable for the specific “MSWI bottom ash” have never been proposed to our best knowledge. The first part is to achieve the characterization of the mechanical behaviors of MSWI bottom ash under triaxial tests. Then the triaxial tests are simulated by using the finite element software package CESAR-LCPC. The Mohr- Coulomb model is chosen to characterize the evolution of material under the influence of external mechanical loadings. This model, suitable for perfect elastoplastic materials, is commonly used in civil engineering to assess the behavior of granular soils (sand and gravel) and the long-term drained behavior of saturated soils (silt and clay) [34]. Moreover, using the law of Mohr-Coulomb behavior of not knowing very well the characteristics of bottom ash, the error committed in considering this law is not the same as the one introduced by the ignorance of bottom ash and the baseline condition for such calculation. Furthermore, starting of modeling with the basic and classic Mohr-Coulomb model helps to work more easily with the behavior model more complexity like the Nova behavior model and the Vermeer behavior model. II. STUDIED MATERIAL This studied MSWI bottom ash is supplied by PréferNord (France) and sorted to remove ferrous elements, aluminium and heavy elements (Fig. 1). According to the classification of technical guide SETRA-LCPC [14], it is a bottom ash of type V, which can be used in civil engineering such as trench backfills or sub-layers of pavement, in place of finer materials such as sand or gravel. Fig. 1 MSWI bottom ash after treatments III. TRIAXIAL TESTS The data of triaxial tests set is reported in Table I. The set A Finite Element Modeling of the Mechanical Behavior of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Bottom Ash with the Mohr-Coulomb Model Le Ngoc Hung, Abriak Nor Edine, Binetruy Christophe, Benzerzour Mahfoud, Shahrour Isam, Patrice Rivard M World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering Vol:9, No:12, 2015 1392 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 9(12) 2015 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/10003249 International Science Index, Environmental and Ecological Engineering Vol:9, No:12, 2015 waset.org/Publication/10003249