Experimental study on the microstructural evolution of newly filled slurry during consolidation

Abstract

The newly filled slurry is generally insufficiently consolidated and thus differs from the natural structural soil generated by deposition in the microstructure. The initial microstructure is gradually formed by deposition and consolidation, which decreases the water content of the slurry, and the corresponding physical and mechanical properties evolve simultaneously. To investigate the changing regularity of the microstructure of the newly filled slurry during consolidation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to explore the link between the water content and the microstructure. The fractal dimension is also introduced into the quantitative analysis of the variation trend of the slurry microstructure. The results demonstrate that when the water content decreases, the fractal dimension of the solid phase increases while the fractal dimension of the void decreases, indicating that the more orderly the solid phase is, the smaller the void, and the stronger the structure of the slurry in the microstructure. Furthermore, the higher the water content is, the greater the variation in the slurry microstructure during consolidation.