International Journal of Engineering Research and Development e-ISSN: 2278-067X, p-ISSN: 2278-800X, www.ijerd.com Volume 10, Issue 11 (November 2014), PP.69-76 69 A Study on Strength of Reinforced Flyash with Randomly Distributed Fibers BJ Sushma 1 , DSV Prasad 2 , M AnjanKumar 3 , GVR Prasada Raju 4 1 PG Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, BVC Engineering College, Odalarevu, AP. 2 Professor & Principal, Dept. of Civil Engineering, BVC Engineering College, Odalarevu, AP. 3 Professor & Principal, Dept. of Civil Engg., BVC College of Engineering, Rajahmundry. 4 Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Registrar, JNT University, Kakinada. Abstract:- Flyash is a waste produced from thermal power stations, which contributes to environmental pollution. It is a waste material that can be utilized in construction of roads and embankments. Randomly distributed fiber reinforced soils have recently attracted increasing attention in geotechnical engineering. One of the most promising approaches in this area is use of flyash as a replacement to the conventional weak earth material and fiber/coir as reinforcement will solve two problems with one effort i.e. elimination of solid waste problem on one hand and provision of a needed construction material on other. Disposal of a variety of wastes in an eco friendly way is the thrust area of today’s research. This paper investigates to determine the optimum percentage of waste plastics/coconut coir with flyash material by conducting direct shear and CBR tests. It was observed that from the laboratory test results, the optimum percentage of waste plastics and coconut coir with flyash material are 0.3% and 0.2% respectively and also flyash with waste plastics shows better performance as compared to flyash with coconut coir. Keywords: - Flyash, Waste Plastics, Coconut Coir, and Shear and CBR Tests I. INTRODUCTION Civil and environmental engineering includes the analysis, design, construction and maintenance of structures and systems. All are built on, in, or with soil or rock. The properties and behavior of these materials have major influences on the success, economy, and safety of the work. Geoengineers play a vital role in these projects and are also concerned with virtually all aspects of environmental control, including waste disposal. Making of waste construction materials is increasing in many countries around the world. One of solution for omitting these materials is to use them in pavement layers. The pavement subbase layer has many significant in reduction of road construction project cost, because they use a large quantity of materials. Waste materials can be used in subbase layer and then stabilized to increase the strength of layer. One of important tasks of subbase layer is to decrease the compressive strains. The performance of paved and unpaved roads is often poor after every monsoon and, in most cases; these pavements show cracking, potholes, wheel path rutting and serious differential settlement at various locations. Therefore, it is of utmost importance considering the design and construction methodology to maintain and improve the performance of such pavements. Many highway agencies, private organizations and researchers are doing extensive studies on waste materials and research projects concerning the feasibility, environmental suitability and performance of using recycled products in highway construction are in progress. The amount of wastes as increased year by year and disposal becomes a serious problem. It is necessary to utilize the waste affectively with technical development in each field. Commonly gravel has been used for construction of all categories of roads in our country. Although gravel is a good construction material, due to scarcity they increase the construction cost at some parts of the country. However, in the latest MORTH specifications, several types of gravel soils are found to be unsuitable for road construction in view of higher finer fraction and excessive plasticity properties. Flyash is a waste by- product from thermal power plants which use coal as fuel. It is estimated that about 120 million tons of flyash is being produced from different thermal power plants in India consuming several thousand hectares of valuable land for its disposal causing severe health and environmental hazards[1] ,[2]. In order to utilize flyash in bulk quantities, ways and means are being explored all over the world to use it for construction of embankments and roads [3] – [5]. Reinforcement of soils with natural and synthetic fibres is potentially an effective technique for increasing soil strength. The growing interest in utilizing waste materials in civil engineering applications has opened the possibility of constructing reinforced soil structure with unconventional backfills, such as waste plastics. The results of direct shear tests performed on sand specimens by [6] indicated increased shear strength and ductility, and reduced post peak strength loss due to the inclusion of discrete fibers. The study also indicated that shear strength is directly proportional to fiber area ratio and length of fiber up to certain limit. These results