Research on the Reuse of Discharged Soil from EBP Shield Tunnels in Synchronous Grouting Material

Great practical significance and engineering application value can be achieved when the large amount of discharged soil produced by EPB shield tunnels is recycled and comprehensively utilized. As one of the key processes of shield construction, synchronous grouting needs a large amount of bentonite, cement, fly ash, sand, and other materials. The research on the reuse of shield muck as synchronous grouting material is carried out based on Zhengzhou subway project. The physical properties and phase of the discharged soil from EPB shield tunnels are studied by using laboratory tests and XRD. The statistics show that the shield muck meets the performance requirements of bentonite and fine sand in synchronous grouting materials. The optimal grout ratio of the reused muck is obtained based on the optimization idea of multiobjective programming by MATLAB. Considering the combined effect of seepage field, stress field, and the timeliness of the grout, the influences of grouting pressure and the filling rate of synchronous grouting on surface settlement, plastic zone of strata, and segment deformation are analyzed by using finite difference method. The results prove that the surface settlement and segment deformation can be better controlled when the grouting pressure is at 0.18 MPa and the grouting rate is at 120%–150%.

Optimization of Grouting Material Mixture Ratio Based on Multi-Objective Optimization and Multi-Attribute Decision-Making

As a solid waste produced by coal combustion, fly ash will cause serious environmental pollution. However, it can be considered as a sustainable and renewable resource to replace partial cement in grouting materials. Fly ash grouting materials re-cement the broken rock mass and improve the mechanical properties of the original structure. It can reinforce the broken surrounding rock of mine roadway. The utilization of fly ash also reduces environmental pollution. Therefore, this paper establishes a new material mixture ratio optimization model to meet the requirement of material property through combining the methods of experimental design and numerical analysis. Based on the Box–Behnken design with 3 factors and 3 levels, a mathematical model is constructed to fit the nonlinear multiple regression functions between material properties and raw materials ratios. The influence of raw materials is analyzed on material properties (the material’s 7-day uniaxial compressive strength, initial setting time, and slurry viscosity). Then, 80 Pareto solutions are obtained through NASG-II algorithm which takes the regression functions as the objective functions for multi-objective optimization of the grouting material ratio. Finally, the best ratio solution of water-cement ratio—0.71, silica fume content—1.73%, and sodium silicate content—2.61% is obtained through the NNRP-TOPSIS method.

Study of Rheological Properties of Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Ultrafine Cement Grouting Materials

In this study, three different diameters of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) dispersed by polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) were used to reinforce superfine cement grouting materials. The effect of MWCNTs and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) on the rheological properties of grouting material were accordingly studied. It was found that the yield stress (τ0) and plastic viscosity (η) were slightly decreased when PVP content was low and increased when the PVP content increased. The effect of MWCNT diameter on τ0 was not found to be clear but was more significant on η. The smaller MWCNT diameter was, the more quickly η increase. It was also found that the thixotropic ring area was increased as the MWCNTs content increased. The addition of PVP and MWCNTs caused an increase in the number of entanglement points in different scales, which was the main reason for the viscosity and thixotropy increase. Therefore, the rheological properties of superfine cement grouting material should be adjusted when MWCNTs were added as a reinforcing component. Due to the wrapping of PVP on cement particles which isolates the contacting part between the water and the cement particles, it slows down the cement's hydration rate thus slows down the fluidity loss of the slurry.