Comparative study on the mechanical properties of solidified silty-fine sand reinforced by permeable polymer and traditional grouting materials

Silty-fine sand is widely distributed in the Yellow River floodplain and is frequently utilized in infrastructure construction. It is susceptible to engineering hazards due to its limited bearing capacity, inadequate stability, and high permeability under groundwater seepage. Grouting has emerged as an effective method to solve this problem, with the choice of grouting material playing a pivotal role. To address the urgent requirement for a suitable material to reinforce silty-fine sand, three types of traditional grouting materials are selected for comparison with the self-developed permeable polymer. The performance comparison of different grouting materials encompasses pre-grouting parameters including viscosity and gel time, as well as post-grouting contrasts of strength, water stability, and permeability coefficient of the reinforced silty-fine sand. The results indicate that the permeable polymer possesses low initial viscosity and optimal gel time, facilitating substantial injectability and adjustability. As the grouting pressure and curing period increase, the strength of the silty-fine sand reinforced with different materials demonstrates varying degrees of improvement, and specimens reinforced with the permeable polymer and high permeability epoxy resin display the highest strength at equivalent grouting pressure and curing periods. Over time, the strength of specimens reinforced with different materials exhibits a decline during immersion. Regarding water stability, the specimens reinforced with the permeable polymer show a minimal reduction of 10.87% after 7 days of immersion, exhibiting excellent water stability. Additionally, the permeability coefficients of the specimens decrease with longer curing periods, with the high permeability epoxy resin and permeable polymer exhibiting the lowest coefficients. By comprehensive comparison, the permeable polymer demonstrates the best overall performance and is suitably applicable for reinforcing silty-fine sand in the Yellow River floodplain. •A new self-developed permeable polymer was proposed by comparing with three kinds of traditional grouting materials.•The reinforcement effect of silty-fine sand with the self-developed permeable polymer were carried out.•The strength of silty-fine sand specimens reinforced with different materials ware compared.