Experimental Investigation on the Diffusion Law of Polymer Slurry Grouted in Sand

Abstract

Polymer slurry is widely used in underground engineering treatment, but due to the concealed nature of underground projects, the diffusion pattern of slurry in the sand has been little studied. In this study, the basic physical properties of water-based polyurethane, oil-based polyurethane, and acrylate and epoxy resin were compared, and the performance of chemical grouted sands with different polymer slurry/sand mass ratios (PS/S) was tested. The higher the PS/S, the better the mechanical and impermeability properties of the chemical grouted sands. In this paper, water-based polyurethane was selected to carry out orthogonal tests on the diffusivity of slurry in sands. This experiment investigated the degree of influence of sand quality, grouting pressure and sand compactness on the diffusion of slurry in sands. The test results show that, in terms of factors affecting the final pressure of grouting, the sand density has the greatest influence, followed by the sand quality, and the grouting pressure is the smallest. In terms of slurry diffusibility, grouting pressure has the greatest influence, followed by sand compactness, and the sand quality is the smallest. The diffusion mechanism of slurry in the sand was deduced from the morphology of chemical grouted sands. Water-based polyurethane showed splitting-compression-penetration diffusion in sands of different grades, and the diffusion pattern of the slurry was not the same in low-pressure (1–1.5 MPa) grouting and high-pressure (2 MPa) grouting, and lateral splitting occurred in the case of high-pressure grouting diffusion.