Numerical simulation of fracture grouting and influencing factors for morphology of grout veins

Considering the difficulty of simulating the initiation and development of cracks during the process of fracture grouting by the conventional numerical methods, a new numerical method is used to simulate and visualize the whole process which contains initiation of cracks, slurry intrusion and propagation of grout. The whole process of fracture grouting simulated by this method fits well with the existing theoretical analyses and test results, so that it is a feasible method to simulate the fracture grouting in soils. Based on this method, the morphology of the grout veins is analyzed under different grout depths and soil moduli. The research results show that with the increase of grouting depth, the grout veins have less branches and are more directional. With the increase of soil modulus, the volume of "grout bulk" around the grouting hole decreases, and the width of the grout vein becomes narrower. The simulation of engineering examples shows that the numerical model can well reflect the engineering phenomena, and it has some guiding significance to engineering practice.