Investigation of grouting diffusion in a single rock fracture considering the influences of obstructions

Grouting reinforcement was used to improve rock strength and avoid seepage in rock engineering. A self-developed visualised test platform was developed and the influences of different fracture openness on grouting diffusion modes were revealed; the Bingham rheological model was imported to simulate the grouting diffusion process in a single plate fracture, the spatio-temporal distribution of the velocity field under different obstructions was determined using the finite element method. The results indicate that: 1) The grout diffuses faster with the increase of fracture openness, while a stagnation effect of the grouting diffusion velocity behind the obstruction occurs. 2) Due to obstructions, the grouting diffusion process can be divided into four stages: circular diffusion, flat diffusion, vortex diffusion, and butterfly diffusion. 3) The grouting diffusion area is divided into a fully-reinforced zone and a semi-reinforced zone, and the area of the latter increases with the fracture openness, while being little affected by the size of any obstruction. 4) Furthermore, some new grouting diffusion laws were revealed considering the asymmetrical arrangement of obstructions. The results presented in this work will be helpful for describing and predicting the grouting process in fracture networks.