Water‐rock interaction of weakly cemented mudstone is intense due to its complex pore structure and mineral compositions. As primary channels for water imbibition, pore structures determine water migration. In this paper, pore properties of weakly cemented mudstone are measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption (NAD), and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), respectively. Water imbibition tests under free and lateral restraints are performed on self‐developed water absorption instruments. The results show that skeleton aggregates, pore zone, and fissure zone constitute the basic structure of the rock, together with pore scales in nanoscale, submicron‐scale, and micron‐scale, respectively. The porosities of each zone are inferred with the values of 13.5%, 7.3%, and 2.3% by comparison of different methods. The main pore type is mesopore. Based on water imbibition tests, water rises along the large fissure and pore zones initially. Pores in the skeleton aggregates absorb water from pore and fissure zones subsequently. However, water imbibition is limited under lateral restraints. Owing to lateral restraints, the ascending height and rate of the sample with lateral restraints are lower than those of the sample with free confinements. The results suggest that lateral restraints can restrain water migration and water‐rock interaction for weakly cemented mudstones, and measures can be taken to control swelling deformation by strengthening lateral restraints.

This research experimentally studied the effects of various fracture roughness (characterized by the fractal dimension D) and normal stress (normal loads FN) applied to fracture on ultrafine cement grout nonlinear flow behavior through rough-walled plexiglass fractured sample. A high-precision and effective sealing self-made apparatus was developed to perform the stress-dependent grout flow tests on the plexiglass sample containing rough-walled fracture (fracture apertures of arbitrary variation were created by high-strength springs and normal loads according to design requirements). The real-time data acquisition equipment and high-precision self-made electronic balance were developed to collect the real-time grouting pressure P and volumetric flow rate Q, respectively. At each D, the grouting pressure P ranged from 0 to 0.9 MPa, and the normal loads FN varied from 1124.3 to 1467.8 N. The experimental results show that (i) the Forchheimer equation was fitted very well to the results of grout nonlinear flow through rough-walled fractures. Besides, both nonlinear coefficient (a) and linear coefficient (b) in Forchheimer’s equation increased with increase of D and FN, and the larger the FN was, the larger the amplitude was. (ii) For normalized transmissivity, with the increase of Re, the decline of theT/T0−β curves mainly went through three stages: viscous regime, weak inertia regime, and finally strong inertia regime. For a certain D, as the normal load FN increased, the T/T0−β curves generally shifted downward, which shows good agreement with the single-phase flow test results conducted by Zimmerman. Moreover, with the increase of D, the Forchheimer coefficient β decreased. However, within smaller FN, β decreased gradually with increasing D and eventually approached constant values. (iii) At a given FN, Jc increased with increasing D.

A detailed understanding of the engineering properties for grouted sand is a key concern in foundation engineering projects containing sand layers. In this research, experiments of grouting with various grain sizes of sand specimens using a new type of improved chemical material-urea formaldehyde resin mixed with oxalate curing agent (UF-OA), which has rarely been used as grout in the reinforcement of soft foundations, were conducted on the basis of a self-developed grouting test system. After grouting tests, the effects on the mechanical behaviors of grouted sand specimens were investigated through uniaxial compression tests considering the grain size, the presence or absence of initial water in sand, and the curing time for grouted sand. Experimental results show that with the increase in the grain size and the presence of initial water in the sand specimen, the values of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and elastic moduli (E) of the grouted specimens decreased obviously, indicating that the increase of grain size and the presence of initial water have negative impacts on the mechanical behaviors of grouted sand; the peak strains (ε_c) were almost unchanged after 14 days of curing; no brittle failure behavior occurred in the grouted specimens, and desirable ductile failure characteristics were distinct after uniaxial compression. These mechanical behaviors were significantly improved after 14 days of curing. The micro-structural properties obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the finer grouted sand indicate preferable filling performance to some extent, thereby validating the macroscopic mechanical behaviors.

This research experimentally analyzed the impacts of various water cement (W/C) ratios of ultrafine cement grout material and normal loads F_N applied to fractures on grout nonlinear flow behavior through a rough plexiglass fractured sample. An effective self-made apparatus was designed and manufactured to conduct the stress-dependent grout flow tests on the plexiglass sample containing rough fractures. At each W/C ratio, the grout pressure P increased from 0 to 0.9 MPa, and the normal loads F_N ranged from 666.3 to 1467.8 N. The results of the experiments indicate that (1) the Forchheimer’s law can be used to express the results of grout nonlinear flow through rough fractures. Moreover, both nonlinear coefficient a and linear coefficient b in Forchheimer’s law decreased with the increase of the W/C ratio, but increased with the increase of the F_N value. (2) For normalized transmissivity, with the increase of Re, the decline of the T/T₀–Re curves means that the grout flow behavior through the fracture mainly went through three stages: the viscosity effect, then the weak inertia effect, and finally the strong inertia effect. The three stages showed that with the increase of Re, the grout flow state changed from linear to nonlinear. Moreover, with the increase of the W/C ratio, the Forchheimer coefficient β decreased. (3) At a given F_N, the critical grout hydraulic gradient J_c decreased, but the critical Reynolds number Re_c increased as the W/C ratio increased; at a given W/C ratio, J_c increased, but Re_c decreased as F_N increased.

To have a better understanding of the reinforcement effect on the crushed zone after grouting in coal mining extraction work, a self‐designed grouting apparatus was used to study the effects of the grain size mixtures (distribution) and the stress state on the mechanical behaviours of grouted crushed coal specimens. From the various grouting tests, triaxial compression tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations of grouted specimens with different grain size mixtures, it was found that, for the same grain size mixture, the peak (σ_p) and residual (σ_r) strengths of the grouted specimens increased with an increase in confining pressure. It was found that the average slope values of the σ_p‐σ₃ curves for the grouted specimens with different grain size mixtures were all larger than those of the σ_r‐σ₃ curves. It was observed that the peak strain (ε_p) of the grouted specimens with different grain size mixtures increased overall with increasing confining pressure. For constant confining pressure, the peak and residual strengths both gradually increased approximately linearly as the grain size mixtures varied from small to large, but at higher confining pressures, the influence of the grain size mixture on the peak (or residual) strength increased. These mechanical behaviours of the grouted crushed coal specimens were strongly dependent on the variation in the grain size mixtures and in the confining pressure, which can be explained by the crack evolution process within the grouted specimen under triaxial compression, to a certain extent. Ultimate failure of the grouted specimen occurred just after propagation and coalescence of the cracks through the entire grouted specimen. Moreover, there were three major microscopic diffusion modes for the grouts flowing in most of the crushed coal specimens. Based on these test results, it was found that the reinforcement effect of the grouted specimen related to the splitting grouting mode (occurring in most of the large specimens) seems to be better than that of the penetrating (filling) grouting mode (in most of the small specimens).