Damage model and experimental study of a sand grouting-reinforced body in a seawater environment

Abstract

A water-rich sand layer is a common stratum in marine underground engineering. Grouting is a technology for soil or rock sealing, a method to solve the water seepage problem, and can be used to solve geological challenges in water-rich sand layers. A grouting-reinforced body deteriorates by the long-term erosion of seawater, resulting in attenuation of the performance of the solid. Obtaining the decay law of the performance of the grouting-reinforced body can guarantee the safe operation of the underground structure over a long life cycle. To this end, by describing the solid damage after seawater erosion, the stress-strain curve and the relationship between the damage variable and the internal micro-cracks and pores in the grouting-reinforced body were analyzed. Then, a constitutive model of the solid damage in the seawater environment was established. The stress-strain curve of added solid after deterioration was obtained by designing an indoor grouting reinforcement test and an accelerated deterioration test. Finally, the constitutive model of the sand layer plus solid deterioration in a seawater environment was determined. This research is of great importance for improving the deterioration theory under a seawater environment and ensuring the long term safety of tunnel operations.