Experimental study on deformation of concrete for shotcrete use in high geothermal tunnel environments

Taking high geothermal tunnels as background, the deformation of concrete for shotcrete use was studied by simulating hot-humid and hot-dry environments in a laboratory. The research is made up by two parts, one is the influence of two kinds of high geothermal environments on the deformation of shotcrete, and the other is the shrinkage inhibited effect of fiber materials (steel fibers, polypropylene fibers, and the mixture of both) on the concrete in hot-dry environments. The research results show that: (1) in hot and humid environments, wet expansion and thermal expansion happened on concrete, but the deformation is smooth throughout the whole curing age. (2) In hot and dry environments, the concrete suffers from shrinkage. The deformation obeys linear relationship with the natural logarithm of curing age in the first 28 days, and it becomes stable after the 28th day. (3) The shrinkage of concrete in a hot and dry environment can be inhibited by adding fiber materials especially steel fibers, and it also obeys linear relationship with the natural logarithm of curing age before it becomes stable. However, compared with no-fiber condition, it takes 14 days, half of 28 days, to make the shrinkage become stable, and the shrinkage ratio of concrete at 180-day age decreases by 63.2% as well. (4) According to submicroscopic and microscopic analysis, there is great bond strength at the interface between steel fiber and concrete. The fiber meshes are formed in concrete by disorderly distributed fibers, which not only can effectively restrain the shrinkage, but also prevent the micro and macro cracks from extending.