Search

There existed ever-increasing structural diseases in the Dugongling tunnel after the completion of the construction. Systematic research was carried out based on the information of tunnel engineering geology, disease development, mineral composition of surrounding rock and concrete, and laboratory tests. Results showed that (1) the concrete structure from the Dugongling tunnel suffered from a typical thaumasite sulfate attack (TSA); (2) tunnel diseases developed under the influence of multiple geological factors such as groundwater, karst, gypsum bearing stratum, and geological tectonics. Groundwater aggravated the appearance of engineering defects of various geological factors and accelerated the softening and swelling of surrounding rock. Moreover, the additional load of supporting structure increased, and the concrete structure was prone to sulfate attack; (3) the development of tunnel diseases showed long-cycle and large-scale characteristics, and the types of diseases are heterogeneous. The tunnel diseases develop rapidly in the third year after the construction. The structure collapse disease, one of the most serious diseases of tunnel lining, occurred in the fifth year after construction; and (4) according to the conditions of TSA, technical treatment measures were proposed. These measures included blocking the flow of CO32−, improving the impermeability of concrete structures, and decreasing the diffusion of external ions and groundwater. This work provides a solution for the treatment of similar tunnel disease and mechanism analysis.

The effect of low atmospheric pressure of the environment on the air content and bubble stability of air-entrained concrete was investigated in Beijing and Lhasa. The results indicate that the reduction of atmospheric pressure can weaken the air-entraining capability of air-entraining agents (AEAs). The air content of fresh concrete decreased by 9%–39% when the atmospheric pressure dropped to 64 kPa. The bubble stability of concrete mixed at a low atmospheric pressure becomes worse. Within 50–55 min after mixing, the air content of concrete mixed at a low atmospheric pressure decreases greatly, and the void spacing factor increases obviously. The concrete mixed at a low atmospheric pressure will lose more air content when vibration time increases, leading to the decrease of air content and the increase of the spacing factor, which are more significant than the concrete mixed at normal atmospheric pressure. On the basis of the experiment results in this study, the type of AEAs must be carefully selected, and the vibration time must be strictly controlled to ensure that the air content of concrete will meet the design requirements in low atmospheric pressure areas.

Aimed at the characteristics of aeolian sand under rapid construction conditions in desert geotechnical engineering, a series of the true triaxial undrained test were carried out on the GDS apparatus. The 3D deformation, failure, and other characteristics of the dense sand are obtained. Under the condition of same pc, the state transition point where the void water pressure changes from increasing to decreasing appears earlier and leads to enhanced dilatancy with the increase of b, which means the enhanced dilatancy of dense sand caused the increase in strength. The results of the same b shows that the void water pressure generally indicates a decrease at low confining pressure and an increase at high confining pressure, indicating that the aeolian sand shows dilatancy at low confining pressure and contraction at high confining pressure. The state transition point increases with the increase of pc, but all points tend to the same critical state line and state transition line. When b = 0, the critical state line is q = 1.57 p′, and the state transition line is q = 1.23 p′. When b = 1, the critical state line is q = 1.24 p′, and the state transition line is q = 1.04 p′. The results at same b obtained the unified critical state line and the state transition line. Therefore, the true triaxial test can obtain the unified relationship of void ratio, pc and b, which overcomes the fact that the existing test cannot consider the influence of b. The test results provide a basis data for the design, construction, and maintenance of geotechnical engineering in Tengger Desert.

For the lack of accurate test results in design and maintenance of desert-crossing highways in the Tengger Desert of western China, the GDS true-triaxial system was used to conduct the drained test on dense sand. Under the condition of different intermediate principal stress ratio b-value, the results showed that the stress-strain relationships in three orthogonal directions had significant differences, presenting significant anisotropy. The peak of the generalized shear stress increased with the increase of b-value. Except under the condition of b = 0, the specimen contracted firstly and then dilated, while the others dilated. The results of the different confining pressures showed that the stress-strain relationships appeared as a hardening type at low confining pressures, and as the confining pressure increased, the stress-strain relationships exhibit hardening, peaking, softening, and stable deformation characteristics. At low confining pressure, the contractive behaviors were not obvious, mainly as dilatancy, and as the confining pressure increased, the dilatancy increased gradually. The specimen transformed contract to dilatancy, and when the confining pressure reached 800 kPa, the specimen exhibited contractive behavior. The test results will provide data for subgrade design and construction in desert area.

To better control the strength and deformation of the roadbed, a constitutive model of rockfill was established based on property-dependent plastic potential theory for geomaterials. The effect of the particle gradation on the anisotropy was described in the model. According to the effect of the particle grading and crushing on the fractal dimension, the fractal theory and fabric tensor were introduced to establish the yield and failure criteria of the rockfill. By combining the property-dependent concepts of the materials and the results of the rockfill strength test, a critical state line considering the microstructure, fractal dimension, particle breakage, and stress state of the rockfill was established. The dilatancy equation was derived based on the novel potential theory and the hardening criterion affected by the critical state was established. A constitutive model of the rockfill in the general stress space was established under the framework of the novel potential theory. The 3D strength and its intensity change in the π plane were simulated through the drainage strength test results, which verified the description of the critical state under various stress paths. By simulating the stress-strain relationship, the validity and rationality of the model were verified.

The thaumasite sulfate attack (TSA) on tunnel concrete structure has been reported increasingly in the past decades. Previous investigations on the formation of thaumasite were focused on identifying the deterioration products and reaction mechanisms, while the occurrence time of TSA on tunnel concrete structures was not reported. A highway tunnel exposed to TSA was reported in the present study. The development of tunnel diseases and results of experimental tests conducted in the tunnel and in the laboratory were analyzed to investigate the occurrence time of TSA on concrete. Results revealed that the thaumasite was formed in a range of 18 to 36 months after the construction of Dugongling tunnel. The preconditions for the formation of thaumasite on tunnel concrete structures are available in Shanxi Province, China, due to the special conditions of stratum lithology and climate. The compositions of corrosion products of lining concrete under TSA varied for site studies and for laboratory tests. Site investigations on TSA on tunnel lining concrete should be paid more attention in further research.