Study of the mechanical properties and constitutive model of the roadbed rehabilitation polyurethane grouting materials under uniaxial compression

Compression-Softening Bond Model for Non-Water Reactive Foaming Polyurethane Grouting Material

In this study, the uniaxial compression and cyclic loading and unloading experiments were conducted on the non-water reactive foaming polyurethane (NRFP) grouting material with a density of 0.29 g/cm3, and the microstructure was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) method. Based on the uniaxial compression and SEM characterization results and the elastic-brittle-plastic assumption, a compression softening bond (CSB) model describing the mechanical behavior of micro-foam walls under compression was proposed, and it was assigned to the particle units in a particle flow code (PFC) model simulating the NRFP sample. Results show that the NRFP grouting materials are porous mediums consisting of numerous micro-foams, and with the increasing density, the diameter of the micro-foams increases and the micro-foam walls become thicker. Under compression, the micro-foam walls crack, and the cracks are mainly perpendicular to the loading direction. The compressive stress–strain curve of the NRFP sample contains the linear increasing stage, yielding stage, yield plateau stage, and strain hardening stage, and the compressive strength and elastic modulus are 5.72 MPa and 83.2 MPa, respectively. Under the cyclic loading and unloading, when the number of cycles increases, the residual strain increases, and there is little difference between the modulus during the loading and unloading processes. The stress–strain curves of the PFC model under uniaxial compression and cyclic loading and unloading are consistent with the experimental ones, well indicating the feasibility of using the CSB model and PFC simulation method to study the mechanical properties of NRFP grouting materials. The failure of the contact elements in the simulation model causes the yielding of the sample. The yield deformation propagates almost perpendicular to the loading direction and is distributed in the material layer by layer, which ultimately results in the bulging deformation of the sample. This paper provides a new insight into the application of the discrete element numerical method in NRFP grouting materials.

Coordination Characteristics Analysis of Deformation between Polymer Anti-Seepage Wall and Earth Dam under Traffic Load

Polymer anti-seepage walls have been widely used in the anti-seepage reinforcement projects of earth dams. Dam crest is always supposed to meet the requirements of traffic load which has significant influence on the dam body and anti-seepage wall. In order to analyze the coordination characteristics of the deformation between polymer anti-seepage wall and dam under traffic loads, a 3D finite element model of an earth dam that considers the coupling effect of seepage field and stress field was established. Besides, the influence of load amplitude, vehicle speed and driving position on the stress and deformation characteristics of polymer anti-seepage wall and dam was analyzed, with the displacement difference between dam and wall, wall Mises stress and wall subsidence as indicators. The results show that, compared with vehicle speed, the load amplitude and vehicle speed of traffic load exerted a greater impact on the coordination characteristics of the deformation of the dam. The variation range of the displacement difference caused by axial load change reached 87.1%, while that resulted from driving position change reached 90.3%. That is, when the passing vehicle has a light axle load and passes quickly over the anti-seepage wall, it has less impact on the dam.