Experimental Study and Modeling of Rheological and Mechanical Properties of NHL Grouts

This paper aims to model the effect of grout composition on properties of two natural hydraulic lime (NHL) grouts based on the correlation between grout rheometer results and simple flow tests. First, the effects of water:binder ratio and superplasticizer dosage on its rheological properties and flowability were analyzed. Dosage of superplasticizer and water:binder ratio were varied from 0.6 to 1.2% (by mass of binder) and 0.45–0.55, respectively. A good correlation between classical flow tests and the rheological properties was obtained. Then, statistical models were formulated in order to estimating the grout parameters, such as plastic viscosity and yield stress just by performing simple flow tests. The models coefficients were calculated using multiple regression analysis. The statistical modeling results indicated that the properties of the grouts studied are linearly related to water:binder ratio, superplasticizer dosage, and specific surface area of natural hydraulic limes. Finally, the accuracy of the models was experimentally confirmed using random grout compositions. The predicted-to-measured ratio ranged from 0.97 to 1.08, indicating a good agreement between the confirmation results and the expected results from the statistical models.