A Comparative Study on Hydrodynamics and Hydrochemistry Coupled Simulations of Drainage Pipe Crystallization Blockage in Karst Tunnels

Drainage pipe system is the requisite component of the traffic tunnels in Karst area.To reveal the dynamic process of crystallization blockage in drainage pipes,a novel hydrodynamics and hydrochemistry coupled simulation model was developed for calculating the deposition rate of CaCO_(3) fouling in pipeline surface.Sediments adhering to the pipe walls involve a deformable domain with moving geometric boundaries,and moving mesh and level set methods are proposed for simulation of for tunnel turbulence and crystallization fouling process.The simulation results are compared with the experimental results showing similar trend.The effects of temperature,flow velocity,and solution concentration on crystallization blockage were analyzed by comparative simulation studies.The simulation results show that:(1)the moving mesh method simulated nozzle shrinkage caused by crystalline deposition,without accounting for geometric topology shape changes.However,the level set method tracked the moving topology and thus can simulate the process of complete blockage;(2)the flow velocity in the longitudinal pipe generally exceeded that in the transverse pipe,and the CaCO_(3) crystal concentration in the transverse pipe eclipsed that in the longitudinal pipe,which meant crystallization blockages primarily occurred in the transverse pipe;(3)the temperature and concentration correlated positively with the crystallization rate,while the crystal precipitation value decreases with the increasing of inlet flow velocity increases.This study advances a hydrodynamics and hydrochemistry coupled crystallization blockage model to provide technical support for the early identification of crystallizationinduced pipe blockage in the drainage system in karst tunnel sites.

Experimental study on mix proportion optimization of anti-calcium dissolution shotcrete for tunnels based on response surface methodology

Aiming at the issue of crystallization and blockage of drainage system due to the massive calcium loss from the tunnel shotcrete,a selfdesigned tunnel seepage crystallization modelling system was developed.This system was produced in conjunction with the initial tunnel support shotcrete construction and drainage pipe installation,and is capable of simulating both the seepage process of groundwater in the shotcrete and the process of crystallization in the drainage pipe.Based on three different mechanisms of anti-crystallization,which include absorbing free calcium,reducing the porosity and increasing hydrophobicity,antialkali agent,nano-calcium carbonate,and silane were selected to test,respectively.Firstly,the suitable dosing ranges of these three external admixtures for resisting calcium loss in shotcrete were determined by single factor tests,which were 7%–11%,4%–8%,and 0.3%–0.5%,respectively.Thereafter,the response surface method was employed to evaluate the interaction of antialkali agent,nano-calcium carbonate and silane on calcium loss in shotcrete,and to establish the relationship between them,and thus to determine the admixture ratio that can effectively reduce calcium loss crystallization in shotcrete,with the optimal admixture amounts of antialkali agent being 9.242%,nano-calcium carbonate 4.889%and silane 0.366%.Lastly,the reliability of the model test results was verified by the microscopic analysis,and the results showed that the total amount of calcium dissolution in the optimized group could be reduced by 75%compared with the blank control group,and was basically consistent with that derived from the response surface regression model,validating the high accuracy of the buildup response surface regression model.The present study can provide some ideas and references for reducing the seepage crystallization behavior of groundwater in the initial tunnel support shotcrete.