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EP0506421A1 Method For Shotcreting
EP0506421A1 Method For Shotcreting
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The present invention relates to a method for it has up until now been necessary either to use a sec-
shotcreting. ond water ring in the spray nozzle for separate feeding
Shotcreting is a process for pneumatically pro- of a liquid accelerator to the dry mix or to add the cur-
jecting mortar or concrete at high velocity onto a sur- ing accelerator to the silica fume slurry before the sili-
face structure. In a dry shotcrete process, all 5 ca fume slurry is added to the water pipe.
ingredients except water and sometimes liquid ac- These two ways of adding curing accelerators
celerators, are mixed in the dry state and the mix is have, however, disadvantages and drawbacks. Using
conveyed by an air stream through hoses or pipes to a separate second water ring for adding water and
a spray nozzle where water is added and the mix, in- curing accelerator complicates the process and
cluding water, is thrown towards the structure to be 10 makes the system inflexible. In addition, it has been
covered. found that the mixtures of water and silica fume which
IOne of the disadvantages in the shotcrete pro- enters into the spray nozzle through the first water ring
cess is the very high rebound loses which are experi- may reach the holes in the second water ring where
enced. When using ordinary concrete mixtures, the the mixture of water and accelerator is added.
rebound losses for the dry shotcrete process may 15 On the other hand, if the curing accelerator is ad-
exceed 40% by weight of the total amount of concrete ded to the slurry of silica fume and water before the
sprayed onto a surface. Furthermore, by using ordi- slurry is added to the water pipe, it is not possible to
nary concrete mixtures, the layer thickness in one adjust the amount of curing accelerator during the
pass is limited to about 5cm or lower. shotcreting process and in addition, floculation of this
US Patent No. 4,931,098 discloses a method for 20 slurry has been observed which tends to block the
adding silica fume to dry shotcrete process. Accord- holes in the water ring.
ing to this system, the silica fume is added together In is an object of the present invention to provide
with the water supplied to the dry mixture in the spray a method for adding curing accelerator in a dry shot-
nozzle. The silica fume used in this method consists creting process where a mixture of water and silica
of extremely fine, spherical silica particles containing 25 fume can be added to a dry mix in the spray nozzle in
approximately 90% by weight of Si02. The specific a simple way without disturbing the shotcreting pro-
surface area is between 15 and 30m2/g and the par- cess.
ticles have a diameter between 0.1 and 0.2um. This According to the present invention, there is pro-
silica fume is obtained from off-gases from electric fur- vided a method for dry shotcreting in which a dry
naces used for the production of silicon ferrosilicon, 30 cementitious composition is combined with a mixture
but can also be obtained by the reduction of Si02 to of water and silica fume at a spray nozzle, which com-
SiO-gas and reoxidation of SiO in air. prises adding a silica fume composition to the water
In the method disclosed in US 4,931 ,098, a reduc- to form a slurry of silica fume and water, adding a mixt-
tion in rebound losses of between 5 to 10% is ure of curing accelerator and water to the slurry of sili-
obtained. Also, the thickness of the concrete layer 35 ca fume and water, and combining the resulting slurry
which can be sprayed in one pass is substantially in- and dry composition at the spray nozzle.
creased. It was surprisingly found that when the curing ac-
In some applications of dry shotcreting, it is desi- celerator was added to the slurry of silica fume and
rable to add curing accelerators to the concrete mixt- water, no gelling took place. The mixture of silica
ure in order to obtain a fast curing of the sprayed 40 fume, water and curing acclerator formed in this way
concrete. For instance, when dry shotcreting is used flows through the water pipe and the holes in the water
in tunnel building, the time required to develop suffi- ring without any gelling or disturbance of the flow. Fur-
cient strength in the sprayed concrete can be a limit- thermore, this way of adding curing accelerator
ing factor in the propagation speed for the tunnel. makes it easy to adjust the amount of added ac-
Normally, in a dry shotcreting process, curing ac- 45 celerator during the shotcreting process.
celerators are dosed into the water in the water pipe As the curing accelerator, any conventional con-
leading to the spray nozzle. crete curing accelerator may be used. Examples of
When this conventional method of adding curing such curing accelerators include sodium aluminate,
accelerators was tried in the method described in US potassium aluminate or mixtures thereof, sodium hyd-
4,931,098, it was observed when adding a slurry of 50 roxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium silicate or water
silica fume and water to a mixture of water and ac- glass and sodium carbonate. Preferably, a mixture of
celerator, a gel was immediately formed which block- sodium aluminate and potassium aluminate are used
ed the water pipe or at least blocked the holes in the as the curing accelerator.
water ring in the spray nozzle. This conventional way The amount of accelerator added will be different
of adding a curing accelerator can thus not b used 55 for the different accelerators and has to be
when silica fume is mixed into the water pipe contain- established by simple tests. For sodium aluminate
ing a mixture of accelerator and water. In order to and potassium aluminate or mixture thereof, the
avoid this blocking of the water pipe or the water ring, amount of accelerator added will generally be in the
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DOCUMENTS CONSIDERED TO BE RELEVANT
Category Citation of document with indication, where appropriate, Relevant CLASSIFICATION OF THE
of relevant passages to claim APPLICATION qnt. Q.5 )
A.P GB-A-2 241 499 (SANDOZ LTD.) 1-4 B28B1/32
* the whole document * E04F21/12
C04B40/00
US-A-4 046 584 (R. C. SNYDER) 1-4 C04B18/14
* the whole document *
B28B
E04F
B29C
B28C
C04B
The present search report has been drawn up for all claims
Place if March Ma cf CMBtaHuofUa
THE HAGUE 10 JULY 1992 GOURIER P. A.
CATEGORY OF CITED DOCUMENTS T: theory or principle underlying the invention
E : earlier patent document, but published on, or
X: particularly relevant if taken alone after the filing date
Y: particularly relevant if combined with another D : document cited in the application
document of the same category L : document cited for other reasons
A: technological background
O : non-written disclosure ft : member of the same patent family, corresponding
P : intermediate document document