Factors Affecting Engineering Properties of Microfine Cement Grouted Sands

An experimental investigation was conducted in order to evaluate the influence of distance from the injection point and of parameters pertinent to the cement, the suspension and the sand on the effectiveness of microfine cement grouts. Three different cement types, each at three different gradations having nominal maximum grain sizes of 100, 20 and 10 μm, were used. Grouting effectiveness was evaluated by injecting suspensions with water to cement (W/C) ratios of 1, 2 and 3, by weight, into five uniform sand fractions with different grain sizes and eight composite sands with different gradations, using a specially constructed apparatus. Unconfined compression and permeability tests were conducted on the resulting grouted sand specimens, after curing for 28 and 90 days. Microfine cement grouted sands obtained unconfined compression strength values of up to 14.9 MPa and permeability coefficients as low as 1.3 × 10⁻⁶ cm/s or by up to 5 orders of magnitude lower than those of clean sands. The W/C ratio and the bleed capacity of suspensions as well as the effective grain size and the permeability coefficient of sands are very important parameters, since they affect substantially the grouted sand properties and are correlated satisfactorily with them. The strength and permeability of grouted sands can increase, decrease or remain constant with distance from the injection point depending on the easiness of suspension penetration into the sands. The improvement of grouted sand properties with increasing distance from the injection point is consistent with the observed increase of the cement content of grouted sands.