Influence of surrounding rock temperature on mechanical property and pore structure of concrete for shotcrete use in a hot-dry environment of high-temperature geothermal tunnel

Abstract

Abstract In view of the temperature distribution of the high-temperature geothermal tunnels, the surrounding rock temperature was divided into four grades (40 °C, 60 °C, 80 °C and 100 °C) to simulate the hot-dry environment. Using the standard curing environment as a reference condition, the mechanical properties and pore structure characteristics of concrete for shotcrete use under hot-dry environments at different temperatures were studied by mechanical and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests. Fractal dimension of pore structure was calculated through the fractal model based on thermodynamic method. Bivariate correlation analysis was conducted on the curing temperature and the pore structure parameters. The results show that the 40 °C hot-dry environment is conducive to enhance the mechanical properties of concrete and optimize its pore structure at the age of 1d. However, the hot-dry environments after 7 days will deteriorate the mechanical properties and pore structure of concrete, and the higher the temperature, the more obvious the deterioration. There is a significant correlation between curing temperature and porosity of capillary pores, median pore diameter, average pore diameter and fractal dimension.