1. Introduction
Since 2000, deep soil layers, deep pore water-rich rock layers, and complex layers that have both of these have been commonly encountered while developing coal, iron, and other resources in China [
1,
2,
3]. For these complex layers, the artificial freezing method is the most commonly used drilling method [
4], accounting for over 90%. According to incomplete statistics, China has built over 150 vertical shafts using the freezing method in deep and complex layers in the past 20 years. The largest shaft net diameter
D has reached 10.5m (Beijiang Haizi Coal Mine Auxiliary Shaft, Nalunhe No. 2 Coal Mine Secondary Shaft), the largest frozen soil layer thickness
Hs has reached 754.96m (Wanfu Coal Mine Auxiliary Shaft, creating a world record), and the largest frozen bedrock depth
Hd has reached 990m (Gaojiappao Coal Mine West Huifeng Shaft, creating a world record).
However, these deep (freezing depth ≥400m) and large (
D ≥8m) vertical shafts often suffered serious water leaks from the inner shaft lining after the frozen wall thawed, as shown in
Figure 1 [
5,
6]. For example, the Auxiliary Shaft of Longgu Coal Mine (
D=7m,
Hs=567.7m,
Hd=650m), the Auxiliary Shaft of Hetaoyu Coal Mine (
D=9m,
Hs=214.6m,
Hd=950m), and the main shaft of Gaojiapu Coal Mine (
D=7.5m,
Hs=26.5m,
Hd=791m) have leakages of 34m³/h, 53m³/h, and 74.2m³/h respectively during construction, far exceeding the allowed values in GB 50384-2016 specification published by Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China [
7].
The vertical shaft is the throat of a mine, and its safety is crucial to the entire mine. Severe leaks in the inner shaft lining not only significantly increase the cost of grouting and water control, extend the construction period of the mine, and cause severe economic losses but also pose a significant safety threat to the mine, which may trigger major malignant accidents such as mud bursts and mine floods. From January 1st to 8th, 2017, the vertical shaft of the Auxiliary Shaft of the already-in-production Longgu Coal Mine (D =7m, Hs =567.7m, Hd =650m) leaked at depths of 382m and 418m, and the total flow of water quickly skyrocketed from an initial 6~8m3/h (containing about 5% mud and sand) to 105m3/h (containing approximately 15% to 30% mud and sand), which was extremely dangerous. According to in-site test data, about 2000m3 of mud and sand rushed into the vertical shaft before the rescue was successful. It can be seen that preventing leaks from the inner shaft lining of deep and frozen vertical shafts is important for ensuring the safety and production of the vertical shaft and the entire mine.
The above deep and large frozen vertical shaft commonly uses the double-layer reinforced concrete shaft lining structure with a sandwiched plastic plate (referred to as double-layer composite shaft lining), as shown in
Figure 2, which is widely used in the world [
8,
9]. Before 2000, the freezing depth of the Chinese double-layer composite shaft lining was generally less than 400m, the net diameter of the vertical shaft was rarely more than 8m, the thickness of the inner shaft lining was generally not more than 1m, and the concrete strength grade was not higher than C55. Currently, the sandwiched plastic plate can effectively reduce the constraint of the outer shaft lining on the newly built inner shaft lining, leading to less temperature deformation cracks of the inner shaft lining concrete [
10]. Actual surveys indicate that many near-horizontal circumferential cracks gradually appear on the inner edge of the inner shaft lining with increasing vertical shaft freezing depth and diameter, as shown in
Figure 1. These cracks are the main leaky water channels of the vertical shaft, and such cracks appear even before the frozen wall thaws during construction. Theoretical analysis can exclude the possibility of inner shaft lining cracking from the points of shaft lining self-weight and formation water pressure. Preliminary judgment is that the cracking of the inner shaft lining concrete may be related to the large thickness of the inner shaft lining (up to 1m~2m) and the high-strength concrete (up to C60~C90). However, the exact failure mechanism of inner shaft lining concrete during construction is currently unclear, and there is no literature on the anti-cracking performance of cast-in-place inner shaft lining structure.
There are two dynamic processes in the freshly poured concrete: (1) the cementitious material quickly undergoes a hydration reaction, leading to an increase in concrete strength rapidly, (2) the temperature change and self-shrinkage of the concrete cause volume shrinkage, resulting in tensile damage of the concrete. Therefore, temperature change and constraint conditions are important factors affecting the concrete cracking of cast-in-place inner shaft lining during construction. The temperature change of cast-in-place inner shaft lining during construction includes two stages: (1) an initial stage where the temperature rises to the maximum temperature with the concrete hydration reaction, and (2) a later stage where the temperature gradually decreases with the influence of the frozen walls and air temperature in the vertical shaft [
11]. For the inner shaft lining within a certain height range, the external constraints include the upper- and lower-end constraints and the outer circumferential surface constraint.
Existed studies have shown that the Temperature-Stress Test Machine (TSTM) is a powerful instrument for studying the early-age anti-cracking of concrete under the combined effects of temperature and constraint. TSTM can accurately control the constraint conditions of the cast-in-place concrete specimens and simulate the tensile damage and cracking process of concrete [
12,
13,
14,
15]. Riding et al. [
16] used a rigid cracking frame to measure the uniaxial stress of concrete containing different fly ashes under restrained conditions, and the result showed that fly ashes reduced the cracking risk because of the decrease in the heat of hydration of the cementitious materials. Kovler [
17] presented a modified uniaxial restrained shrinkage test for early-age concrete to make it possible to resolve creep strain from shrinkage strain. Shen et al. [
18] used a TSTM to investigate the influence of hooked-end steel fiber and thermal treatment temperature on the early-age tensile creep of concrete under a constant tensile loading, and the result showed that the early-age autogenous shrinkage of concrete decreased with an increase of the content of hooked-end SF and increased with an increase of the thermal treatment temperature. However, studies regarding the restrained thermal and autogenous shrinkage deformations of the shaft structure remain insufficient. Additionally, most of the TSTMs with limited loading capacities are applied to low-strength concrete, which is inadequate for the shaft walls casted by high-strength concrete.
This study aims to develop a novel TSTM suitable for the shaft structure. With a similar simulation test, a preliminary investigation of the temperature, strain, and stress variations of the cast-in-place inner shaft lining under full end constraint degree (
Kr = 100%) during the processes of early-age hydration heat and later cooling is studied. The constraint factor
Kr refers to the degree of the end constraint of relative horizontal displacement
where
Xf is the relative horizontal displacement of the inner shaft lining scaled model under unrestrained conditions at the end, and
Xc is the allowed relative horizontal displacement of the scaled model. Therefore,
Kr =0 means that the end of the inner shaft lining scaled model can freely expand and contract in the horizontal direction, while
Kr =100% means that the allowed relative horizontal displacement of the left and right ends of the inner shaft lining scaled model is 0.
4. Conclusion
This paper developed a novel temperature stress test machine to simulate the internal hydration heating and cooling process of cast-in-place inner shaft lining. The machine accurately controls the end constraint conditions of the inner shaft lining scaled model. The salient conclusions are summarized as follows:
(1) The average temperature at the inner edge of the inner shaft lining scaled model is close to the average temperature in the middle, and both are slightly higher than the average temperature at the outer edge of the model by 0.3℃ to 1.0℃. The temperature distribution in the height direction of the inner shaft lining scaled model is relatively uniform, with a maximum difference of 0.5℃.
(2) The average temperature variation can be divided into four stages: rapid heating stage (T-Ⅰ), steady temperature stage (T-Ⅱ), slow cooling stage (T-Ⅲ), and rapid cooling stage (T-Ⅳ). In stage T-Ⅰ (0~16 h), the temperature of the shaft model rises rapidly from the initial temperature of 13.0 ℃ to 41.4 ℃ with an average temperature rising rate of 1.78 ℃/h, which is attributed to the excellent conductivity under the action of 300V direct current. In stage T-Ⅱ (16~32 h), the shaft model reaches thermal equilibrium with the ambient temperature of 5 ℃, and the temperature smoothly maintains at 39.8~40.5 ℃. In stage T-Ⅲ (32~51 h), the concrete strength continues to grow, and the electrical conductivity further decreases. The shaft model slowly cools down with an average cooling rate of 0.45 ℃/h. In stage T-Ⅳ (51~69 h), the shaft model rapidly cools with an average cooling rate of 1.01 ℃/h due to the low-temperature brine.
(3) The trends in the cumulative relative displacement and cumulative strain at the end of the inner shaft lining scaled model can be divided into three stages. From 0 to 13 hours, the cumulative relative displacement at the model end increases to a maximum value of 129.2mm at 13 hours, and the cumulative strain of the inner shaft lining scaled model decreases to a maximum compressive strain of -99.4με at 13h. From 13 to 32 hours, the cumulative relative displacement of the model gradually decreases and decreases to 0 at 32 hours when the model height is restored to 1200mm, and the cumulative strain of the inner shaft lining scaled model increases from -99.4με to 0. From 32 to 69 hours, the cumulative relative displacement of the model gradually decreases and decreases to -244.2mm at 69 hours. The scaled model changes from a compressed state to a tensile state, and the cumulative strain of the model gradually increases to 187.8με at 69 hours.
(4) The change in the constrained stress of the inner shaft lining scaled model can be divided into three stages. From 0 to 13 hours, the constrained stress of the scaled model decreases to a maximum compressive stress of -2.21MPa at 13 hours. From 13 to 32 hours, the constrained compressive stress at the model end gradually transitions to tensile stress and the constrained stress of the scaled model increases to -1.22MPa at 32 hours. From 32 to 69 hours, the constrained tensile stress at the model end gradually increases, and the constrained tensile stress increases to a maximum tensile stress of 1.7MPa at 68.4 hours. Then, the constrained stress of the scaled model rapidly unloads until the test ends at 69 hours.
(5) It is feasible to determine the location and time of cracking in the scaled model by judging whether the tensile strain values at each measurement point of the distributed fiber optic sensor exceed the ultimate tensile strain of concrete. The abnormal points of the tensile strain value of the distributed fiber optic sensor are located at a distance of 0.25m and 0.36m from the movable end clamp. A certain concrete strain value near the crack of the scaled model showed a sharp increase in tensile strain at 68.4 hours.