Theoretical and experimental study on the rheological properties of WIS grout and the dispersion and sealing mechanism

Recently a new grout material called water inflow sealing(WIS) was invented for sealing water inflow in tunneling and underground constructions. In this study, a special experimental method called intubated counter grouting(ICG) was proposed to investigate the influence of water dispersion on the rheological properties of the grout during the grouting process, and to testify the sealing performance of the grout,such as instant gelling ability(IGA) and anti-dispersion ability(ADA). In the experiment, dispersion was restricted in the downstream of the channel with a high turbulence intensity. The influences of ADA and IGA were therefore decoupled and evaluated separately. Experimental results revealed two distinctive sealing mechanisms of WIS. For a low initial velocity of water, WIS turned the shear flow of water into an overall movement of a plug by absorbing water into the particles. For a high initial velocity and the situation that the particles reached the outlet before sufficiently expanding, WIS modified the rheology of the water in the channel and reduced its velocity till the static state. The distinctive feature of WIS brings a reformation on the sealing mechanism and provides an effective way to control water inflow with high pressure and velocity.

Response of operating metro tunnels to compensation grouting of an underlying large-diameter shield tunnel:A case study in Hangzhou

Due to the shield tunneling underneath,long-term settlements may develop in the existing metro tunnels.The compensation grouting is applied worldwide to stabilize the settlement of ground and existing structures.Few field studies concerning large-diameter shield pass-ing tunnel from below have analyzed the interaction between the compensation grouting and the existing tunnel.This paper presents a case study on the response of the operating metro tunnels to the compensation grouting of an underlying large-diameter tunnel in muddy clay stratum.The tunnel deformations before,during,and after the compensation grouting were monitored and analyzed.The long-term tunnel settlements were mitigated and stabilized by the timely compensation grouting.Smaller settlement rates were observed during the grouting treatment,and the settlement was gradually stabilized three months after the grouting.The grouting holes at the tunnel invert were used initially for better grouting efficiency.The horizontal displacement and convergence developed during the grouting construc-tion and remained stable after the grouting process.Moreover,some limitations of the grouting treatment were discussed.The tunnel settlement in the section close to the center-line of the south-line tunnel cannot be prevented effectively.The differential displacement cannot be reduced by this grouting program.