<p>Grouting as a method of strengthening and sealing rock, soil and concrete is widely used. The possibilities of sealing structures are of great importance from both an economical and environmental point of view. The cost of grouting has in certain projects been as high as the cost for the blasting and excavation of the tunnel. To improve the technique of grouting with cement based material, it is necessary to focus on the properties of the used grout mixture. The ability of a grout to penetrate cavities, channels and porous material, the penetrability, depends on two things, the theology and the filtration tendency. Extensive laboratory tests on stable, low w/c-ratio, injection grouts show that the most significant limitation to their penetrability is the tendency of cement grains to agglomerate into an impermeable filter cake. The properties of a grout that may prevent passing obstructions in the flow path without the cement grains clogging and preventing further penetration is in this work called filtration tendency. An inert material mixture and a cement-based mixture are used for the investigations in this work. The inert material, which is crushed dolomite stone, does not react with the added water in the mixture. The used cement grouts are based upon three types of commercial available Portland cements and four Portland cements with modified grain size distribution curves. </p><p>Performed tests show that the grain size and grain size distribution is of great importance for the filtration tendency. According to performed experiments with inert and cement material, it seems to be advantageous for the penetrability to have a grain size distribution that contains neither too many fine or coarse grains. It is reasonable to believe that the grain size distribution should be relatively steep (narrow grain size range) between minimum and maximum grain size. The maximum grain size is of importance in terms of for example d_95. Too large maximum grain size will prevent penetration of the mixture through obstructions in the flow path. According to performed tests, the value of d₉₅, should be between </p><p>4-10 times smaller than the aperture to be penetrated by the cement based mixture. The small grain sizes are also of importance in order to achieve a low filtration tendency of the grout. This is because of the increased tendency for the small grains to flocculation into larger agglomerates, compared to larger grain sizes. </p><p>The filtration experiments with cement based grouts show that influences of parameters like surface chemistry (use of superplastisisers) and cement chemistry (hydration of cement grains) will strongly affect the filtration tendency of the mixture. </p><p>To visualize the phenomenon of filtration tendency it can be investigated on a larger scale than usually takes place. Filtration experiments in the scale of approximately 100:1 have been performed in order to see influences of grain concentration, grain shape and the penetrated slot aperture. It can be seen that used grain sizes (monodisperse and inert mixture) should be approximately at least 2-3 times smaller than the aperture to be penetrated by the mixture. Numerical experiments of filtration tendency have also been performed to investigate the possibilities to numerically simulate the influence of grain concentration and slot aperture. The numerical experiments are based on Eulerian flow modelling.</p>

Grouting as a method of strengthening and sealing rock, soil and concrete is widely used. The possibilities of sealing structures are of great importance from both an economical and environmental point of view. The cost of grouting has in certain projects been as high as the cost for the blasting and excavation of the tunnel. To improve the technique of grouting with cement based material, it is necessary to focus on the properties of the used grout mixture. The ability of a grout to penetrate cavities, channels and porous material, the penetrability, depends on two things, the theology and the filtration tendency. Extensive laboratory tests on stable, low w/c-ratio, injection grouts show that the most significant limitation to their penetrability is the tendency of cement grains to agglomerate into an impermeable filter cake. The properties of a grout that may prevent passing obstructions in the flow path without the cement grains clogging and preventing further penetration is in this work called filtration tendency. An inert material mixture and a cement-based mixture are used for the investigations in this work. The inert material, which is crushed dolomite stone, does not react with the added water in the mixture. The used cement grouts are based upon three types of commercial available Portland cements and four Portland cements with modified grain size distribution curves. Performed tests show that the grain size and grain size distribution is of great importance for the filtration tendency. According to performed experiments with inert and cement material, it seems to be advantageous for the penetrability to have a grain size distribution that contains neither too many fine or coarse grains. It is reasonable to believe that the grain size distribution should be relatively steep (narrow grain size range) between minimum and maximum grain size. The maximum grain size is of importance in terms of for example d95. Too large maximum grain size will prevent penetration of the mixture through obstructions in the flow path. According to performed tests, the value of d95, should be between 4-10 times smaller than the aperture to be penetrated by the cement based mixture. The small grain sizes are also of importance in order to achieve a low filtration tendency of the grout. This is because of the increased tendency for the small grains to flocculation into larger agglomerates, compared to larger grain sizes. The filtration experiments with cement based grouts show that influences of parameters like surface chemistry (use of superplastisisers) and cement chemistry (hydration of cement grains) will strongly affect the filtration tendency of the mixture. To visualize the phenomenon of filtration tendency it can be investigated on a larger scale than usually takes place. Filtration experiments in the scale of approximately 100:1 have been performed in order to see influences of grain concentration, grain shape and the penetrated slot aperture. It can be seen that used grain sizes (monodisperse and inert mixture) should be approximately at least 2-3 times smaller than the aperture to be penetrated by the mixture. Numerical experiments of filtration tendency have also been performed to investigate the possibilities to numerically simulate the influence of grain concentration and slot aperture. The numerical experiments are based on Eulerian flow modelling. / QC 20101007

In the past centuries, grouting has been one of the most common techniques in geotechnical engineering to strengthen and seal underground structures. Concerning increasing demands for tightness and cost efficiency, cement-based grout has been one the most frequent used materials. One of the first grouting operations is the work done by Charles Bérigny in France back in 1802 in order to repair a sluice by stabilizing the ground with liquid grout. Several studies have been then conducted in grouting, which have contributed into successful improvement of the grouting operations. The investigations have also extended the understanding of the factors such as choice of materials, choice of equipment, and the applied pressure type and magnitude, etc. that influencing the grout spread in rock fracture systems.   Among the factors, the applied pressure is one of the most significant ones influencing the spread of grout during grouting operations. Grouting at static pressure conditions is the most common method used in field, where in practice the injected grout can only penetrate into the rock fractures wider than 100 µm.   Recent investigations conducted on application of static and dynamic pressure conditions, using Short Slot and Varying Aperture Long Slot (VALS) in the lab have yielded an overall improvement of the grout spread under dynamic pressure conditions rather than the conventional static pressure conditions. However, the efforts conducted are just a beginning, especially in very fine micro factures smaller than 70 µm    The main objective of this investigation was therefore to improve the spread of grout by dynamic grouting into fractures smaller than 70 µm effectively, which could not be done with grouting at static pressure conditions.  Furthermore, the aim was to investigate filtration and erosion phenomena/ tendency of grout flow during static and dynamic pressure application using Varying Aperture Long Slot (VALS) in the lab. The durations of peak and rest periods used in the experiments were 2s/2s and 1s/5.5s, which were equivalent to 0.25 Hz and 0.15 Hz, respectively. The results of dynamic grouting showed up to 10 times improvement in the volume of passed grout through fracture apertures smaller than 70 µm. / Injektering är en av de vanligaste metoderna som använts för att förstärka och täta geotekniska konstruktioner. När det gäller ökande krav på täthet och kostnadseffektivitet har cementbaserade bruk varit ett populärt förbrukningsmaterial. Injektering användes förmodligen först av Charles Bérigny i en slussreparation i Frankrike under 1802 där marken stabiliserades med hjälp av flytande injekteringsmaterial. Flera studier har sedan dess utförts inom injekteringsteknik, vilket har bidragit till en framgångsrik förbättring av injekteringsoperationer. Dessa undersökningar har också utvidgat förståelsen av faktorer såsom materialegenskaper, val av utrustning, provprestanda, trycktyp och storhet som i sin tur påverkar brukets spridningsförmåga i bergets spricksystem.   Forskningen inom bergtätning fokuserar bland annat på att utveckla tillämpningen av statisk och dynamisk tryck vid injektering. Tillämpning av statiskt tryck är den vanligaste metoden för injektering ute i arbetsfält, där den injicerade bruket i praktiken endast kan tränga in i bergssprickor som är större än 100 μm.   De senaste undersökningarna med hjälp av Short Slot och Varying Aperture Long Slot (VALS) har visat en övergripande förbättring av inträngningen under dynamisk injektering jämfört med de konventionella statiska. Detta är bara en början och metoden behöver utvecklas mer, särskild för att åstadkomma bruksspridningen i mycket finare mikrosprickor, exempelvis sprickor mindre än 70 µm.   Syftet med detta arbete var att utveckla injekteringsmetoden där bruket kan tränga  i berg med sprickor mindre än 70 µm. Resultaten på de dynamiska tryckförhållanden visade att injekteringsbruket trängde bättre  i de smala sprickor  jämfört med de statiska tryckförhållanden. Upp till 10 gånger mer mängd av injekteringsbruk passerade sprickor med storlek mindre än 70 µm i VALS. Vidare har inloppsflödet och filtrerings- och erosionsfenomenen studerats med hjälp av laboratorieinstrumentet VALS. Varaktigheten av peak- och restperioder som användes i experimenten var 2s/2s och 1s 5.5s, vilka var ekvivalenta med 0.25 Hz respektive 0.15 Hz.