RESEARCH ARTICLE
Engineering Characteristics at Early Age of Cemented Silica Fume Paste for Peat Compaction Grouting
Alsidqi Hasan1, *, Lolom Evalita Hutabarat1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2024Volume: 18
E-location ID: e18741495282395
Publisher ID: e18741495282395
DOI: 10.2174/0118741495282395231218094058
Article History:
Received Date: 15/09/2023Revision Received Date: 13/11/2023
Acceptance Date: 23/11/2023
Electronic publication date: 02/02/2024
Collection year: 2024
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Introduction
Cemented Silica Fume Paste (CSFP) is currently being investigated for compaction grouting material to improve peat ground engineering properties. The CSFP is made in the laboratory using a proportional mixture of silica fume, cement binder, and tap water. The silica fume material is a byproduct of the metal processing industry, which critically requires a better alternative utilization in the near future in order to cut the storage cost and minimize the environmental impact.
Aims
This paper aims to present preliminary results on the engineering characteristics of CSFP at an early age through a series of rheological and strength tests. A general observation of the physical properties and microstructure of CSFP is also presented.
Methods
The CSFP specimens with cement binder range from 0% to 30% with the increment of 5% and Water-to-Solid (W/S) ratio ranges from 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0 were prepared and tested. A series of rheology test and Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests were carried out for the CSFP specimens at an early age. The data were analyzed statistically and mathematical formulation is presented.
Results
The results indicate that CSFP mixtures behave as pseudoplastic or shear thinning fluid, where the shear stress and viscosity depend highly on the shear rates. The higher the shear rates, the higher the shear stress and the lower the viscosity. Curve fitting showed that the best relationship between shear stress and shear rate is the power law function (Ostwald–de Waele relationship). Statistical parameters, k, n, R2 of the power law functions are reported. There was no good correlation found between the power law function statistical parameters and the cement content. The UCS tests showed that the shear strength increases with the amount of cement content. The actual W/S reduces as the cement content increases, which is attributed to the cement hydration.
Conclusion
The CSFP mixtures were found to be a pseudoplastic or shear thinning fluid at an early age that provides an advantage during the material injection on the ground. Cemented Silica Fume Paste can be potentially used as compaction grout to improve peat. The current findings provide a better understanding of the CSFP characteristics and to better design CSFP to be injected into peat ground.
