Experimental and simulation study on the expansion mechanism of polyurethane grout

Abstract

Understanding the expansion mechanism of polyurethane polymer grout can supply guidance for accurate grouting. However, most of the polymer grout expansion calculations were defined simplistically by the polymer density-expansion pressure empirical relationship expression, which failed to meet the time history of the expansion pressure during the polymer reaction process. The objective of this paper was to investigate the expansion mechanism of polyurethane foam in various constraint conditions during the whole polymer reaction process. A model describing the expansion mechanism of polyurethane foam was established based on the energy conservation principle, the chemical reaction kinetic equation solved by the Runge-Kutta method, and the ideal gas state equation. The model was proved applicable compared to the experiments under fixed volume and fixed confining pressure boundaries. In addition, the effects of grouting quantity, confining pressure, initial temperature, and physical foaming agent content on the grout expansion pressure, density, and components conversions were discussed. The results showed that the expansion pressure of polymer grout gradually increased with time under the fixed volume conditions, and the grout expansion pressure increased as the density increased. The final grout expansion pressure will increase with the increase of initial temperature or the content of physical blowing agent. Under the fixed confining pressure condition, the polymer grout density gradually decreased with time, the grout density increased as the confining pressure increased while the conversions of the two components alcohol and isocyanate increased. The final density decreases with the increase of initial temperature or the content of physical blowing agent.