Effect of grout strength on the stress distribution (tensile) of fully-grouted rockbolts

Abstract

The paper deals with and axial stress distribution (ASD) obtained from pull-out tests of strain gauged rockbolts in high strength rock media. For this purpose, an experimental research was conducted considering the only axial forces acting on fully grouted rockbolts (FGR). Strain gauges were used to observe the behavior of rockbolts and to determine the load transfer mechanism of the bolts to rock mass. In the test, five grout mixture having different properties was prepared and stress-strain mechanism of the bolt-grout interface was investigated for these conditions. ASD was demonstrated elastic load transfer behavior from the rockbolt to the outlying rock under the applied load (for each grout type) and stress concentration was rather a high level at 70 mm distance from rock surface. Axial stress curves drawing with the aid of strain readings were showed the regular distribution with increasing of grout stiffness. The test results of strain gauged rockbolts show that the shear stress distribution (SSD) is uniform and, the style of the distributions along the rockbolt was similar under various loading levels for all grout types. Shear stress was rather a small amount at the pulling end of rockbolt but it reached the peak after a short distance away from the pulling end of rockbolt and subsequent to peak value decayed rapidly with the load increase. The results were showed that strength properties of grout played an important role in SSD and ASD along the rockbolt. The increase in grout strength and rigidity made the stress distributions regular along the rockbolt.