Influence of degree of saturation on the borehole sealing performance of an expansive cement grout

The strength measures of expansive cement grout borehole plugs cast in weld ed tuff cylinders is investigated as a function of the degree of saturation of the plugged rock cylinder and of borehole size. Details on experimental procedure regarding rock cylinder and cement grout preparation, sample cur ing conditions, experimental apparatus, sample loading, mechanical characte rization of the rock, and cement grout, along with procedures for the deter mination of the sample saturation assuming uniform saturation, and strength measures are presented. The extrapolated axial strengths to a plug radius of 100 mm show that the more saturated samples show higher strengths as com pared to the dry samples. The strength measures decrease with increasing pl ug radius, obeying a power law. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.