Currently, cement base grout is used widely for sealing of the rock fractures in order to decrease the permeability of rock mass. Grouting procedure is one of the main tasks in cycle of rock excavation. In addition, huge amount of grout should be used during dam construction in order to seal the bedding and embankment walls. Therefore, considering the effect of grouting in duration and cost of the project, improving the design methods seems essential. In successful grouting the goal is to achieve the required sealing of fractures while avoiding ground movement due to applied pressure. Empirical methods have been developed to decide the pumping pressure, grout mix properties and stop criteria in order to fulfill requirements of successful grouting but there are ambiguities in using them and performance of them have been questioned. In these methods, assumptions and criteria are based on rules of thumbs and experiences from previous projects. The main uncertainties connected to these methods are identifying amount of grout spread and state of the fracture. Theoretical approach is an analytical solution which provides the chance for estimation of penetration length of the grout in real time. Furthermore, void filling fracture aperture and trend of the grout flow are estimated. As the development of this theory, elastic and ultimate jacking limits have been established based on the estimated penetration length. Therefore, it is possible to identify jacking of the fracture and estimate the state of the fracture in real time.  In this research work, performance of this theoretical approach which is called “Real Time Grouting Control Method” has been validated through case studies. Properties of the used material, data for pressure and flow in addition to geological characteristics have been gathered from projects in sedimentary rock (Gotvand Dam in Iran and THX Dam in Laos) and hard rock (City Line Project in Sweden). This theory made it possible to observe overflow of grout and jacking of the fractures in sedimentary rock. In place of hard rock with mostly vertical fractures, this theoretical approach confirms usage of higher pressure which will shorten the grouting time. In this research work, variation in properties of the grout mix during grouting has been neglected. moreover, orientation of the fracture and its deformation due to injection pressure are not considered. Despite these assumptions, the results were promising and performance this approach in estimation of grout spread and identifying jacking of the fracture has been verified. / <p>QC 20130520</p> / Rafi, J, Stille, H, Bagheri, M, 2012. Applying “Real Time Grouting Control Method” in Sedimentary Rock, in 4th International Conference on Grouting and Deep Mixing. 16-18 February, New Orleans-USA. / Rafi J, Stille H, 2013. Controlling jacking of rock considering spread of grout and grouting pressure, Accepted in Journal of Tunneling and Underground Space Technology. / Rafi J, Tsuji M, Stille H, 2013. Theoretical Approaches in Grouting Fractures of the Rock Mass: Theories and Applications. Accepted in the 47th US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium. 23-26 June, San Francisco, CA, USA. / Rafi J, Tsuji M, Stille H, 2013. Theoretical approaches in grouting design: estimation of penetration length and fracture deformation in real time in Bergmekanikdagen, 11 March, Stockholm-Sweden.

In order to understand some of the superconducting mechanisms involving external electric fields at nanometric scales, a Lorentz-covariant extension of the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory has been developed by analogy with the Higgs model of particle physics. Among the specific properties of this model, it has been shown that the phase diagram of some particular geometry submitted to crossed electric and magnetic fields in a stationary situation provides a criterion involving the applied electric field, which could discriminate between the usual Ginzburg-Landau theory and its covariant extension. A sub-microscopic device has been manufactured using microelectronics lithography techniques and was used to perform transport measurements at very low temperatures. However, the experimental measurements of the phase diagram do not reproduce the expectations based whether on the usual or the extended model, suggesting a screening of the electric field by some mechanism which is not accounted for by these phenomenological approaches. A microscopic approach has therefore been developed to extend the s-wave channel of the BCS theory in a relativistic framework, using the functional integral formalism of Finite Temperature Field Theory. In particular, the effective action related to the Ginzburg-Landau free energy was obtained up to second order in the fluctuations of the electromagnetic field and of the superconducting condensate density. This allowed for the identification of the electric and magnetic penetration lengths, inclusive of their dependences on temperature and the chemical potential, which fully explain the experimental results. Several analytic expressions have also been provided for the effective potential in the full range of temperatures between 0 K and the critical temperature, among which the Ginzburg-Landau potential was shown to reproduce this effective potential within the limited range of temperatures where it is expected to be valid.

“Real Time Grouting Control Method” is a pioneer idea informulating grouting works which provides possibility for monitoring groutingprocess in real time to optimize it to performance and cost. Currently this theoryhas been tested with data from tunnels in Stockholm. In this report the effort istesting the validity of this method in a kind of geology which is situated insouthwest of Iran. Data are taken from the Gotvand dam project which is underconstruction on Karoon River. To achieve this goal, Tests are performed inStockholm by using the cement collected from the dam site to obtain rheologicaland penetrability properties of the grout mix which is in use in Gotvand project.Pressure and flow values are recorded in during grouting and have beenemployed as input data in this report. By developing a proper application, resultshave been analysed and discussed in detail. It has been shown that in studiedcases the theory can provide promising results and this method is applicable inthis project although there is a need for site investigation and testing different kindof grout mixes to precise results and be able to drive a general conclusion. / QC 20101009

The main goal of the grouting is to seal the fractures in the rock mass,improve the strength properties of the rock mass and decrease deformability. However,the overuse of the grouting should be avoided due mainly to economic reasons,optimizing the project time and sometimes severe environmental issues.Insufficient grout spread can cause worse sealing results and decreasedurability. To control the process of grouting and predict the penetrationlength an analytical solution called Real Time Grouting Control theory (RTGC) hasbeen developed. This thesis aimed to evaluate RTGC theory on the equipmentrepresenting a one-dimensional model of a fracture called Varying Aperture LongSlot - VALS. The evaluation was based on a comparison between the calculated(predicted) penetration length according to RTGC theory and the realpenetration obtained in the experiments. Results of the tests show that the RTGCtheory is a good tool to predict the penetration length of the grout at thejoints with apertures close to the hydraulic apertures. At the apertures,significantly less than the hydraulic aperture, the results of the test andRTGC theory differ a lot.

The Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEGIS) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is an experiment investigating the influence of earth’s gravitational force upon antimatter. To perform precise measurements the antimatter needs to be cooled to a temperature of 100 mK. This will be done in a Penning trap, formed by several electrodes, which are charged with several kV and have to be individually electrically insulated. The trap is thermally linked to a mixing chamber of a 3He-4He dilution refrigerator. Two link designs are examined, the Rod design and the Sandwich design. The Rod design electrically connects a single electrode with a heat exchanger, immersed in the helium of the mixing chamber, by a copper pin. An alumina ring and the helium electrically insulate the Rod design. The Sandwich uses an electrically insulating sapphire plate sandwiched between the electrode and the mixing chamber. Indium layers on the sapphire plate are applied to improve the thermal contact. Four differently prepared test Sandwiches are investigated. They differ in the sapphire surface roughness and in the application method of the indium layers. Measurements with static and sinusoidal heat loads are performed to uncover the behavior of the thermal boundary resistances. The thermal total resistance of the best Sandwich shows a temperature dependency of T-2,64 and is significantly lower, with roughly 30 cm2K4/W at 50 mK, than experimental data found in the literature. The estimated thermal boundary resistance between indium and sapphire agrees very well with the value of the acoustic mismatch theory at low temperatures. In both designs, homemade heat exchangers are integrated to transfer the heat to the cold helium. These heat exchangers are based on sintered structures to increase the heat transferring surface and to overcome the significant influence of the thermal resistance (Kapitza resistance). The heat exchangers are optimized concerning the adherence of the sinter to the substrate and its sinter height, e.g. its thermal penetration length. Ruthenium oxide metallic resistors (RuO2) are used as temperature sensors for the investigations. They consist of various materials, which affect the reproducibility. The sensor conditioning and the resulting good reproducibility is discussed as well.

The Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEGIS) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is an experiment investigating the influence of earth’s gravitational force upon antimatter. To perform precise measurements the antimatter needs to be cooled to a temperature of 100 mK. This will be done in a Penning trap, formed by several electrodes, which are charged with several kV and have to be individually electrically insulated. The trap is thermally linked to a mixing chamber of a 3He-4He dilution refrigerator. Two link designs are examined, the Rod design and the Sandwich design. The Rod design electrically connects a single electrode with a heat exchanger, immersed in the helium of the mixing chamber, by a copper pin. An alumina ring and the helium electrically insulate the Rod design. The Sandwich uses an electrically insulating sapphire plate sandwiched between the electrode and the mixing chamber. Indium layers on the sapphire plate are applied to improve the thermal contact. Four differently prepared test Sandwiches are investigated. They differ in the sapphire surface roughness and in the application method of the indium layers. Measurements with static and sinusoidal heat loads are performed to uncover the behavior of the thermal boundary resistances. The thermal total resistance of the best Sandwich shows a temperature dependency of T-2,64 and is significantly lower, with roughly 30 cm2K4/W at 50 mK, than experimental data found in the literature. The estimated thermal boundary resistance between indium and sapphire agrees very well with the value of the acoustic mismatch theory at low temperatures. In both designs, homemade heat exchangers are integrated to transfer the heat to the cold helium. These heat exchangers are based on sintered structures to increase the heat transferring surface and to overcome the significant influence of the thermal resistance (Kapitza resistance). The heat exchangers are optimized concerning the adherence of the sinter to the substrate and its sinter height, e.g. its thermal penetration length. Ruthenium oxide metallic resistors (RuO2) are used as temperature sensors for the investigations. They consist of various materials, which affect the reproducibility. The sensor conditioning and the resulting good reproducibility is discussed as well.