Sulfate Resistance of Novel Alkali-Activated Filling Grout for Shield Tunnels: Comparison with Typical OPC-Based Filling Grout
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 12
Abstract
The novel alkali-activated filling grout (AAG) for shield tunnels requires detailed understanding of its sulfate resistance prior to practical application. This paper presents a comparative study of the sulfate resistance of a typical ordinary portland cement (OPC)-based grout and two groups of representative AAG formulated with industrial by-products including fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag, and steel slag as the solid precursors. In the study, the grout samples after 28 days of standard curing were exposed to the 5% by weight (pH = 7.92) and 5% by weight (pH = 7.25) solutions, respectively, to simulate different cases of external sulfate erosion. The sulfate resistance and deterioration mechanism of various grout samples were evaluated and analyzed via multitechnical examinations including visual appearance, mass loss, compressive/flexural strength, strength retention coefficient, mineral composition, microstructure morphology, and pore-size distribution at different test ages. The experimental results indicated that whether under or erosion, AAG always exhibited more slight deterioration than the OPC-based grout in terms of visual appearance, mass loss, and strength reduction. The reasons for these observations are as follows. The main gel products of AAG were mainly C-(A)-S-H and N-A-S-H, which interweaved and coexisted to form a denser matrix structure than that of the OPC-based grout. The resulting poorer permeability of the AAG matrix was not conducive to the ion exchange between the matrix and the environmental solution. In addition, compared with the OPC-based grout, the lower calcium content and more stable bonded aluminum phases in AGG limited the formation of expansive products responsible for microcracking under sulfate erosion. could cause more severe deterioration than , mainly due to the promotion of decalcification of calcium-containing phases by the presence of and the resulting gel products harmful to the matrix. This study demonstrated the excellent sulfate resistance of AAG, which can provide scientific basis for its future engineering application.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code used during the study appear in the published paper.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Key Program of National Natural Science of China (No. 42030710), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. 2208085QE170), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. PA2022GDSK0064, JZ2022HGTA0319, and JZ2022HGQA0162), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42072297), and Key Project of Soft Science Research in Anhui Province of China (202106f01050006).
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 12 • December 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jan 12, 2023
Accepted: May 3, 2023
Published online: Sep 28, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2024
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