A Viscometric Study of the Properties of Grout.

Abstract : A rotational viscometer was designed, fabricated and used to investigate the rheological properties of a weak grout. The grout samples, when tested in the rotary viscometer, show a qualitative behavior which is independent of cure time, shaft speed or hydrostatic pressure and a quantitative behavior which is predominantly influenced by strain rate. The annular samples, failing in shear adjacent to the viscometer shaft, exhibit first a chemical bond failure together with a static friction resistance to motion and, second, a subsequent relaxation of the friction resistance to a lower dynamic value. The observed behavior of the grout suggests that it can be characterized as a plastic material wherein the resistance to deformation is dominated by dry friction. There is no evidence of viscous behavior.