Porosity Fluctuations in Desiccating Samples of Grout-Stabilized Soil
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
Contaminant migration from polluted sites that are excessively permeable to fluids can be minimized by ground stabilization through grouting with cementitious materials. Analyses of the long term drying process of 2.75 mm diameter samples of cement–bentonite grouted soils from Dover, Del. in an environmental chamber maintained at a temperature of 25°C and relative humidity of 30% indicate that for most samples, the water-filled porosity (0.02–0.033) varied in a quasi-sinusoidal pattern with respect to drying time. Measurements of ultrasonic wave transit time with a James V-Meter correlated in time, with moisture loss determinations by weight loss measurements, show that in the initial 0–65 day drying period, the escape of moisture and consequent increase in air-filled porosity is responsible for the decrease in ultrasonic pulse velocity. Thereafter, increases in pulse velocity values ranging from 50 to observed for the reaction products at sustained drying at 25°C, provide enough activation energy for continuation of cement hydration and cement–bentonite reactions. Continuation of drying beyond reasonably complete moisture loss, to 200 days, generally produced decreases in pulse velocity that are herein attributed to microcracking. These observations are significant with respect to long-term barrier integrity in the vadose zone where variations in moisture content and temperature increase the opportunity for the desiccation of subsurface barriers of waste containment systems.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was performed using resources provided to the primary writer at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell by Sandia National Laboratories. This analysis was performed as part of the grouting technology effectiveness demonstration project at the Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science and Technology, DuPont Engineering and the U.S. Air Force/Armstrong Laboratories. Additional support was provided by Duke Energy Corporation for this work at the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. The sponsors do not necessarily endorse the results of this work. The writers are grateful to the sponsors for their support.DOE
References
Badens, E., Veesler, S., Boistelle, R., and Chatain, D. (1999). “Relation between Young’s modulus of set plaster and complete wetting of grain boundaries by water.” Colloids Surf., A 156, 373–379.
Baron, K. (1971). “Detection of fracture initiation in rock specimens by the use of a simple ultrasonic listening device.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.., 8, 55–59.
Budiansky, B. (1965). “On the elastic moduli of some heterogeneous materials.” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 13, 223–227.
Cerepi, A., Humbert, L., and Burlot, R. (2001). “Petrophysical properties of porous medium from petrographic image analysis data.” Colloids Surf., A, 187–188.
DiMaio, A. A., Traversa, L., and Giovambattista, A. (1985). “Nondestructive combined methods applied to structural concrete members.” Cement, Concr. Aggregates, 7 (2), 89–94.
Falls, S. D., Young, R. P., Carlson, S. R., and Chow, T. (1992). “Ultrasonic tomography and acoustic emission in hydraulically fractured Lac du Bonnet Grey Granite.” J. Geophys. Res., 97 (B5), 6867–6884.
Gu, P., Xie, P., Beaudoin, J. J., and Brosseau, R. (1993). “Microstructural characterization of hydrating cement-silica fume systems.” Cem. Concr. Res., 23, 157–168.
Inyang, H. I. (2004). “Thermodynamic framework for analysis of waste containment barrier materials.” J. Environ. Eng., 130 (8), 836–846.
Inyang, H. I., and Fish, K. (1992). “Dynamic elasticity and strength anisotropy of some surficial rocks.” Int. J. Surface Mining Reclamation, 6, 65–71.
Kendall, K., Howard, A. J., and Birchall, F. R. S. (1983). “The relation between porosity, microstructure and strength, and the approach to advanced cement-based materials.” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 310, 139–153.
MacKenzie, D. R., Siskind, B., Bowerman, B. S., and Piciuls, P. L. (1987). “Some considerations in the evaluation of concrete as a structural material for alternative LLW disposal technologies.” Proc., Symp. on Waste Management, Tucson, Ariz., 63–70.
McCarter, W. J. (1994). “A parametric study of the impendence characteristics of cement-aggregate systems during early hydration.” Cem. Concr. Res., 24 (6), 1097–1110.
McCarter, W. J. (1996). “Monitoring the influence of water ionic ingress on cover zone concrete subjected to repeated absorption.” Cem., Concrete Aggregates, 18 (1), 55–63.
McCarter, W. J. Ezirim, H., and Emerson, M. (1996). “Properties of concrete in the cover zone.” water penetration, sorptivity and ionic ingress.” Mag. Concrete Res., 48 (176), 149–156.
Means, J. L., Smith, L. A., Nehring, K. W., Brauning, S. E., Gavaskar, A. R., Sass, B. M., Wiles, C. C., and Mashni, C. I. (1995). The applications of solidification/stabilization to waste materials, Lewis, Boca Raton, Fla.
Moukwa, M., and Aitcin, P. C. (1988). “The effect of drying on cement pastes pore structure as determined by mercury porosimetry.” Cem. Concr. Res., 18, 745–752.
Neubauer, C. M., Jennings, H. M., and Garboczi, E. J. (1997). “Mapping drying shrinkage deformations in cement-based materials.” Cem. Concr. Res., 27 (10), 1603–1612.
Pabst, W., and Gregorova, E. (2004). “New relation for the porosity dependence of the effective tensile modulus of brittle materials.” J. Mater. Sci., 39, 3501–3503.
Parrot, L. J. (1988). “Moisture profiles in drying concrete.” Adv. Cem. Res., 1 (3), 164–170.
Pittman, E. D. (1992). “Relationships of porosity and permeability to various parameters derived from mercury injection-capillary pressure curves for sandstone.” AAPG Bull., 76, 191–198.
Popovics, S. (1986). “Effect of curing method and final moisture condition on compressive strength of concrete.” ACI J., 83 (4), 650–657.
Rajaiah, K., and Rao, M. M. R. (1990). “Damage assessment in composites through NDE: Some recent studies in India.” Theor. Appl. Fract. Mech., 13, 125–135.
Rybakova, L. M., Amelina, E. A., Kuksenova, L. I., and Shchukin, E. D. (1999). “Investigation of residual internal stresses of the I and II modes in cement-hardening structures.” Colloids Surf., A, 160, 163–170.
Swanson, P. L., and Spetzler, H. (1984). “Ultrasonic probing of the fracture process zone in rock using surface waves.” Proc., 25th Symp. Rock Mechanics, Evanston, Illinois, Society of Mining Engineers, New York, 67–76.
Wang, K., Jansen, D. C., Shah, S. P., and Karr, A. F. (1997). “Permeability study of cracked concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res., 27 (3), 381–393.
Weiss, W. J., Yang, W., and Shah, S. P. (1998). “Shrinkage cracking of restrained concrete slabs.” J. Eng. Mech., 124 (7), 765–774.
Zhao, Y. H., Tandon, G. P., and Weng, G. J. (1989). “Elastic moduli for a class of porous materials.” Acta Mech., 76, 105–130.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 11, 2005
Accepted: Jul 29, 2005
Published online: Apr 1, 2006
Published in print: Apr 2006
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Hilary I. Inyang
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.