Formulation, Properties and Mechanism of a New Expanding Agent-activated Backfill Grouting Material for Shield Tunneling

Abstract

In the process of backfill grouting for shield tunneling, the hardening and shrinkage of the slurry can easily lead to ground settlement, whereas the secondary grouting prolongs the construction period and increases the engineering cost generally. In this study, a new but low-cost strategy to resist the shrinkage of backfill grouting using calcium a sulphoaluminate micro-expansion agent (CAS-H) is innovatively proposed. With the addition of CAS-H at 8% and 20%, the lateral expansion rate of the backfill grouting increased to 1% and 3% at 28 d, respectively. On the contrary, that of the backfill grouting without CAS-H was only about −4%. Simultaneously, CAS-H also increased the density and the impermeability of the hardened slurry significantly. Other essential properties such as the bleeding rate, setting time, fluidity, consistency, strength after hardening and other indicators of the backfill grouting still satisfied the related engineering standards. From the perspective of microstructure, the appearance of C-S-H gel, C₄AH₁₃, Aft, Afm and Ca(OH)₂ was accelerated by CAS-H, filling the pores and making the microstructure denser. The hydration heat curve and thermodynamic simulation (GEMS) further validated the other essential beneficial effects of CAS-H, and the cumulative hydration heat of 72 h was calculated to be increased by 29.6 %. The hydration degree of cement clinker (C₃S, C₂S, C₃A, C₄AF, etc) also increased, which was believed the key reason for inhibiting the shrinkage of the background grouting using the expansion agent-activated strategy.

Keywords

expanding agent / backfill grouting / shield tunnelling / impermeability / microstructure

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