Investigation into the Effect and Microscopic Mechanism of Retarders on Two-component Backfilling Grout in Shield Engineering

Abstract

To address the issues of short setting time and high bleeding rate of A component, which easily cause pipe plugging and poor grouting performance when a two-component grout is injected synchronously behind the Segmental Lining, the inorganic retarder sodium pyrophosphate (TSPP) and three organic retarders were added to the A component: sodium citrate (SC), sodium tartrate (ST) and glycerol (GLY). The effect law and microscopic mechanism of viscosity, bleeding rate, setting time, gelling time, compressive strength, and stone rate were investigated. The results revealed that the addition of retarders could enhance the stability and setting time of the A component and increase the gelling time, stone rate, and compressive strength of two-component grout. Among them, the performance of the grout with an SC dosage of 0.1% was superior. The bleeding rate of this grout was reduced to 3.5%, the stone rate of the two-component grout was more than 99%, and the early compressive strength and late compressive strength of this grout were increased by approximately 35% and 7%, respectively. The initial and final setting time of the A component with a TSPP dosage of 0.3% was the longest, which was prolonged to 17 and 26 h, respectively. Microscopic analysis revealed that the four retarders hindered the hydration process of cement through complexation and adsorption, and inhibited the hydration of C₃S and the crystallisation of CH. Moreover, they reduced the defects caused by the rapid reaction of water glass and CH on the solid phase structure, enabled the microstructure of the stone body to be denser, and subsequently, enhanced the compressive strength.

Keywords

backfilling grout / two-component grout / retarder / working performance / gelling performance / microscopic mechanism

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