Steering Parameters for Rock Grouting

In Swedish tunnel grouting practice normally a fan of boreholes is drilled ahead of the tunnel front where cement grout is injected in order to create a low permeability zone around the tunnel. Demands on tunnel tightness have increased substantially in Sweden, and this has led to a drastic increase of grouting costs. Based on the flow equations for a Bingham fluid, the penetration of grout as a function of grouting time is calculated. This shows that the time scale of grouting in a borehole is only determined by grouting overpressure and the rheological properties of the grout, thus parameters that the grouter can choose. Pressure, grout properties, and the fracture aperture determine the maximum penetration of the grout. The smallest fracture aperture that requires to be sealed thus also governs the effective borehole distance. Based on the identified parameters that define the grouting time-scale and grout penetration, an effective design of grouting operations can be set up. The solution for time as a function of penetration depth is obtained in a closed form for parallel and pipe flow. The new, more intricate, solution for the radial case is presented