Title: Optimisation of mix proportions for the cemented sand and gravel in cold region

Authors: Lixia Guo; Yuhang Guo; Ling Zhong; Guozhi Zhang

Addresses: School of Water Conservancy, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, 450045, China; Henan Water Valley Research Institute, Zhengzhou, 450046, China; Henan Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation and Treatment, Zhengzhou, 450002, China ' School of Water Conservancy, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, 450045, China ' School of Water Conservancy, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, 450045, China; Henan Water Valley Research Institute, Zhengzhou, 450046, China; Henan Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation and Treatment, Zhengzhou, 450002, China ' Henan Water Conservancy Investment Group Co. Ltd., Zhengzhou, 450002, China

Abstract: Cemented sand and gravel (CSG) is recognised as having poor quality due to its high porosity. An experimental study was carried out on the mix proportion design of CSG, taking into account the strength and frost resistance requirements of CSG dams in frozen areas. The main factors affecting the compressive strength and frost resistance of CSG were determined by orthogonal experiments. The influencing factors are water/binder ratio, fly ash, cement consumption, admixture and sand ratio, every factor sets up two cases, and the orthogonal table L8 (2⁴) is adopted. There is a positive correlation between compressive strength and frost resistance, as the test results show. An optimal function about compressive strength and frost resistance to improve the quality of CSG in cold region was proposed, in which, weight was determined by OWA operator and entropy weight method to eliminate the influence of extreme values in the subjective evaluation. With the application of the function, significant factors influencing the desired performance of CSG are sand ratio, cement consumption, water/binder ratio and content of fly ash, while the optimum mix proportion is water/ binder ratio of 1.0, ratio of sand of 0.2, while 60 kg/m³ and 40 kg/m³ for the contents of fly ash and cement. The results can provide a theoretical basis for application and design of CSG dam in cold region.

Keywords: cemented sand and gravel; ordered weighted average operator; orthogonal experiment; optimisation; compressive strength; frost resistance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2022.125509

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2022 Vol.65 No.3, pp.235 - 247

Received: 23 Jul 2020
Accepted: 29 Jun 2021
Published online: 13 Sep 2022 *

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