Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Effect of mineral admixture types on the grout strength of fully-grouted

rockbolts
Ahmet Teymen
Department of Mining Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Ömer Halisdemir University, 51240 Nigde, Turkey

h i g h l i g h t s

Bolt bond strengths and bearing capacities of grouted rockbolts were investigated.

Mineral admixtures increased the pull-out capacities of rockbolts.

Mineral admixtures can be used in grout to achieve higher resistance.

The predictive models were developed for estimating bond strength of rockbolts.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper represent the results of an experimental study handled with developed grouting materials for
Received 12 January 2017 fully-cement-grouted ribbed rockbolts. These experimental studies cover the effects of some mineral
Received in revised form 28 March 2017 admixtures (silica fume, blast furnace slag, fly ash etc.) on the bond characteristics between grout and
Accepted 7 April 2017
rockbolts. The effect of mineral admixtures on the grout strength of fully-grouted rockbolts and block
Available online 13 April 2017
punch index (BPI) and compressive strength (CS) of the grout on the load bearing capacity (LBC) were
investigated. Totally 150 rockbolt pull-out tests were performed using ten different grouts in order to
Keywords:
investigate and improve the LBC of grouted rockbolts for five different curing times (1, 3, 7, 28 and
Rockbolt
Grout
90 days). All grout types were prepared same ratios, and silica sand was used as fine aggregate. Grout
Admixture mixtures that 15% of mineral admixtures replaced with cement by weight were prepared. The results
Block punch index showed that grouts produced with silica fume (SF) and metakaolin (MK) in all mixtures were yielded
the highest CS and bond strength at all ages. The all strength tests of fly ash (FA) grout exhibited low val-
ues till 28 days of curing time in accordance with reference grout, but a sharp increase was observed after
this period. Grouts with perlite (PRL) and blast furnace slag (BFS) showed the similar strength values
according to reference grout. In conclusion, mineral admixtures can be used for high-strength and low
cost grout in tunneling applications. In addition, the use of waste materials can contribute to the resolu-
tion of environmental problems.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The cement-grouted rockbolt is a fully-grouted rockbolt with-

The rockbolts support system has often been used in the long-
term stabilization of underground excavations in rock masses.
Rock bolt systems can be divided into three groups, which are
mechanically anchored, friction anchored and fully-grouted rock-
bolts (resin and cement grouted rockbolts). Developments of set-
ting techniques and equipment, not having a disadvantage of
decreasing at intersectional area of cavern, having a reinforcement
effect in addition to supporting effect made rockbolts unrivalled in
tunneling and slope stability.
E-mail address: ateymen@ohu.edu.tr
out mechanical anchoring. It generally consisting of a ribbed bolt
inserted in a drillhole and bonded to the drillhole periphery over
its embedded length. Bonding medium of rockbolts is cement mor-
tar. The parameters controlling the LBC of cement-grouted rock-
bolts are shape of bolt, diameter of bolt, length of bolt, the rock
and the grout strength. The major mechanism that determines
the bond strength of fully-grouted rockbolts is friction. Friction
depends on the shear strength at the rock-grout or bolt-grout
interface. Fully grouted untensioned rockbolts have been used for
many years in civil and mining engineering projects. However, only
a few works have been reported on strengthening of grouting
materials using mineral and chemical admixtures.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.04.046
0950-0618/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A. Teymen / Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382
The bolting system prevent the joint movements developing in
deformed rock masses. Thus, it contributes to the self-supporting
of the rock mass [1]. Fully-grouted reinforcements are popular
types of reinforcement. The most common material used to bond
rock masses and reinforcement agent (rockbolts) is Portland
cement grout [2]. The supporting and reinforcement effects of
rockbolts have been discussed by many researchers [1,3–6]. Wide
applications of rockbolts have given way to invention of different
types of rockbolts. Rockbolts can be divided into three main groups
as regards their anchorage systems [7–11].
Moosavi et al. [2] and Kılıç et al. [11] reported that grout shear-
ing is the key parameter controlling the LBC of rockbolts during
axial pull-out movements. Bond failure mechanism of grouted
rockbolts revealed this reality. Thus, any change that may occur
in the rock mass-grout or grout-rockbolt interfaces will affect the
LBC of rockbolts. LBC of rockbolts (cement-grouted) and their
anchoring agent are a function of the cohesion of the bonding
material, rockbolt and enclosing rock [7]. The LBC can be increased
by increasing its strength or diameter, and the bond capacity
between the interface of rock and grout material can be increased
by increasing the drillhole diameter; this causes an increase of the
surface area of bonding agent [12]. Increasing the shear strength of
grouting materials is only possible by using high strength cement,
low water/cement (w/c) ratio, superplasticizer and some mineral
admixtures. A series of studies have been conducted related to
optimum proportion of mineral admixtures in cement [13–21].
Lam et al. [14] studied the strength effect of SF and FA with differ-
ent w/c ratios. According their findings, a 15% SF and a 25% FA
replacement increased the CS of concrete considerably at the end
of 28 day. Shannag [15] outlined 26% strength increasing with
15% pozzolan and 15% SF after 28-day. CS of the concretes without
SF was found to be lower than the CS of the SF concrete for mixes
with a w/c ratio of 0.35. Mazloom et al. [16] conducted a study on
the short and long term properties of high strength concrete pro-
duced by the addition of SF. They concluded that the workability
of concrete decreases, while the proportion of SF increases. Results
showed that SF addition improved the short-term mechanical
properties of concrete (such as secant modulus and CS) for
28 day curing time. For the determining high strength concrete
properties, a series of laboratory test was conducted by Nassif
et al. [17]. Experimental studies were conducted with water
cement ratios ranging from 0.29 to 0.44 and FA and SF were used
at different rates. FA replacement was between 10 and 30% and
SF replacement was between 5 and 15%. Türkmen et al. [18] were
executed a study to improve the mechanical properties of concrete
and to increase the resistance of steel to corrosion. They performed
their work using SF and BFS at different rates instead of Portland
cement. According to experimental test results, use of 10% SF and
20% BFS increased the CS of the concrete by about 8% on the
28th day. This rate doubled in the 250th day. The 28 day CS
decreased by about 22% as the water binder ratio increased from
0.35 to 0.45. Badogiannis et al. [19] were produced cement using
five different types MK. The test results showed that after 2, 28
and 180 days, the increase in CS by MK addition was obtained.
Researchers have discovered that the content of 10% MK has a
more positive effect than the content of 20% MK, considering the
physical and mechanical properties of the cement produced with
MK. The effects of MK on the grout properties such as pull-out
strength, CS and flow-ability were investigated by Vipulanandan
and Sunder [21]. According their results, MK addition were showed
remarkable variations at CS and pull-out strength of cement
grouts. They also reported that the shear strength of grout
increases in the mixture made with using low w/c ratio, while they
decreases the workability and pourability.
The focus of this paper is to determine the effects of different
grout types on the pull-out capacity of grouted rockbolts. In order
377
to improve applicable grout mixtures, a series of laboratory study
was undertaken by taking into consideration technical and envi-
ronmental reasons. In addition, some empirical formulas were
determined for estimating the bolt bond strength (sb) and pull-
out resistance using CS of grout and grout shear strength.
2. Experimental study
In this study, an experimental study was undertaken to investi-
gate the effects of mineral admixtures on the pull-out capacity of
grouted rockbolts and strength of grouting materials. The mineral
admixtures used grout mixes were collected from different factory
and processing plants in Turkey. Type of admixtures and origins
were summarized in Table 1.
The diameter of ribbed rockbolts used in the tests was 14 mm,
and the diameter of boreholes was 24.8 mm. The yielding strength
and the ultimate strength of the rockbolts, which used in the study,
were determined as 97 kN and 113 kN, respectively. Pre-
investigation studies were carried out before the experimental
studies were planned. Pre-investigation results showed that the
bolts longer than 25 cm failed from bolt shank unless slippage
occurred after 7 days of curing time. Therefore, 20 cm-rockbolts
were used in this study.
Pull-out tests were carried out on rockbolts placed in six basalt
blocks prepared by cutting and smoothing in a natural stone fac-
tory in Osmaniye/Turkey. Basalt blocks were prepared in
15  20  60 cm dimensions and ten rockbolts were placed in
each. When determining the sizes of the basalt blocks, the anchor
length of the rockbolts and the dimensions of the boltmeter were
taken into consideration. Ten different types of grouting mixtures
were prepared to examine the effect of mineral admixtures on
the pull-out capacity of grouted rockbolts. One of them was pre-
pared as a reference grout and no mineral admixture was used in
this grout. The composition of grouting mortars and fresh unit
weight of grouts has been summarized in Table 2. During the plan-
ning stage, a series of trial tests were carried out with different
mixing ratios. The grouts were prepared by using mineral admix-
tures at the range of 5% –25% of the cement weight. In practice,
the grout must be resistant to stress and easily pumpable to the
boreholes. Considering these two parameters, the substitution of
mineral admixtures rate determined as 15%.
All mixture types were prepared under the same mixing condi-
tions to determine the effects of different mineral admixtures on
the grout properties. Silica sand to binder (cement + mineral
admixture) ratio was 0.10, and water to binder ratios was 0.36.
The ratio of superplasticizer to binder was 0.85%. With ten differ-
ent types of grouting materials and five different curing times
(1, 3, 7, 28, 90 days), pull-out tests have been executed in order
to investigate and improve the LBC of grouted rockbolts
(fully-cement). In the tests, 150 rockbolts were used. In order to
obtain different grouting materials, grout mixtures were prepared
Table 1
Type-origins of mineral admixtures.
Admixture names Codes Admixture origins
Silica fume SF Antalya-Etibank Ferro – Chrome Factory
Blast furnace slag BFS Iskenderun – Iron and Steel Factory
Fly ash FA Adana – Sugözü Thermal Power Reactor
Colemanite CLM Kütahya (Emet-Espey) – Colemanite Quarry
Simektit SMT _
Ankara (Imrahor) – Clay Quarry
Perlite PRL _
Izmir (Cumaovası) – Etibank Perlite Quarry
Basalt dust BD Osmaniye
Coal dust CD Zonguldak
Metakaolin MK Niğde (Fesleğen) Kaolinite Quarry
Reference grout RF –
378 A. Teymen / Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382

Table 2
Approximate grout mix design for 1 m3 and fresh unit weight of grouts.

Mix codes Cement Admixture Silica sand Water Superplasticizer Fresh unit weight
3
(kg/m )
M1 (SF) 1077 190 127 456 10.8 1861
M2 (BFS) 1139 201 134 482 11.4 1968
M3 (FA) 1118 197 132 474 11.2 1932
M4 (CLM) 1104 195 130 468 11.0 1908
M5 (SMT) 1123 198 132 476 11.2 1940
M6 (PRL) 1087 192 128 460 10.9 1878
M7 (BD) 1137 201 134 482 11.4 1965
M8 (CD) 1045 184 123 443 10.5 1806
M9 (MK) 1114 197 131 472 11.1 1924
M10 (RF) 1322 – 132 476 11.2 1941

by using mineral admixtures instead of 15% of cement weight
(CEM II/B-P 32.5 R). For all mixtures, homogeneous silica sand
passing 0.5 mm sieve was used as fine aggregate.
100  100  100 mm cubic specimens were cast for each mix-
tures type and CS tests were conducted using these specimens.
The BPI test was preferred because it was an easy method to mea-
sure the shear strength. For BPI test cores which had a roughly
10 mm thickness and 54 mm diameter were prepared. Flat and
smoothness disc specimens were installed center of the apparatus
and clamped steel bars. After mounting the BPI apparatus on the
point load device, the load was manually increased so that the fail-
ure occurred between 10 and 60 s.
The cement types used were CEM II /B-P 32.5 R with a specific
gravity of 2.91, Blaine fineness of 4503 cm2/g. Initial setting time of
cement was 128 min and final setting time was 207 min. The
superplasticizer used was organic origin, which fulfills the function
of dispersing chemical media in heterogeneous systems. These
type superplasticizers were first used in the 1960s for concrete
production. It was a vital development for concrete production
and construction technology [22]. The high performance and dura-
bility can be obtained by used these type superplasticizers in con-
crete mixtures because it provides high workability at a very low
w/c ratio. X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) method was used determining
the chemical compositions of admixture materials and results
were given in Table 3.
The pull-out test equipment and rockbolts placed in the drilling
holes using grout were illustrated in Fig. 1. The installation proce-
dure of the rockbolts were as follows. Firstly, the prepared grouts
were poured carefully into the boreholes. After, the rockbolts were
slowly inserted into the center of borehole having 24.8 mm diam-
eter. The casting of the grout samples used in the CS and BPI tests
and the bolting were carried out simultaneously. The cube samples
taken from the molds and disc samples after the BPI test are shown
in Fig. 2.
Rockbolts inserted in basalts were axially loaded after 1, 3, 7, 28
and 90 days of curing times. Load increment was continued until
the failure take placed at bolt-grout interface. The rockbolts
installed between two wedges of boltmeter. After the installation,
rockbolts were pulled out using a hydraulic jack having 150 kN
load capacity. The pulling loads were monitored by a computer
controlled data logger (TDG AI8b) with eight channels and the dis-
placement was not measured. Pull-out tests were repeated three
times for every grout type and curing time. The pull-out tests were
performed in accordance with the test procedures described in
ISRM [23].
The failure load of any type of grout was the average value of
those of three tests. A compression machine, conforming to TS
EN 1015-1 [24] was used for CS testing at a load rate of
0.15 MPa/s. The load was constantly applied without shock until
failure. The CS investigation was performed according to the
requirement of Turkish standards TS EN 12390-3 [25]. In this
study, the BPI test apparatus, which was designed to fit a point load
index device by Ulusay and Gokceoglu [26] was employed. The
apparatus consist of a punching block made from hardened steel
with Rockwell hardness (40) and base support. The base support
has a rectangular channel extending along its axis. Punching block
passes this canal with a space of approximately 0.25 mm.
3. Testing results of mixtures
The test specimens of BPI (sg) and CS (rg) were tested after 1, 3,
7, 28 and 90 days of curing times. The calculated mean values were
given in Table 4. Ultimate pull-out load of bolts (Pb) and bolt bond
strengths (sb) were calculated according to pull-out test results
except for 90 days curing times. The maximum pull-out load
capacity of a rockbolts was limited to maximum strength of this
rockbolt steel. Shear failure was observed at the grout-rockbolt
interface in all pull-out tests except for the pull-out test performed
after 90 days of curing time. Because, at the end of the 90 day cure
period, the grouts reached their maximum strength values and
most of the pull-out tests resulted in the bolt failure. The calcu-
lated mean values were given in Table 5.

Table 3
Chemical composition of mineral admixtures.

Admixture names SiO2 CaO Fe2O3 MgO Al2O3 K2O SO3 MnO SrO TiO2 BaO MoO3 P2O5 Na2O IR* LOI
Cement 3.6 47.8 3.1 0.9 9.3 1.4 2.2 – – – – – – 1.7 27.6 2.4
SF 87.9 0.2 0.1 8.0 – 2.2 0.8 0.03 – – – – – – – –
BFS 16.6 48.8 22.0 6.0 – – 1.3 4.13 0.13 0.31 – – – – – –
FA 54.0 5.7 3.3 – 32.6 1.0 0.8 0.03 0.19 0.86 0.21 – 1.1 – – –
CLM 38.0 26.3 2.9 13.1 12.2 1.9 0.4 0.05 2.69 0.32 – – – – – –
SMT 63.8 4.4 5.6 – 22.5 2.2 0.6 0.09 0.06 0.63 – – – – – –
PRL 76.8 0.6 0.7 – 17.2 4.3 – 0.04 0.02 0.09 0.11 – – – – –
BD 47.8 10.7 12.6 5.6 18.0 1.1 – 0.19 0.15 1.62 – – – 2.0 – –
CD 41.3 4.4 7.6 – 25.4 1.4 8.0 0.14 0.47 1.45 0.39 8.3 – – – –
MK 52.2 0.1 0.4 – 45.3 0.1 0.1 – – 1.62 – – – – – –
*
IR: Insoluble residue, LOI: Loss on ignition.
 A. Teymen / Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382 379

Fig. 1. Pull-out test equipment: a) rockbolts setting the boreholes and b) installation of the rockbolt between two wedges for pull-out test.

Fig. 2. Grout samples using the mechanical test of grouts: a) compressive strength test samples (10 cm  10 cm  10 cm) and b) broken BPI test samples (ø = 5.4 cm).

Table 4
Compressive strength (rg) and block punch index (sg) of grouts.

Mix codes Grout strengths (MPa)

1 (day) 3 (day) 7 (day) 28 (day) 90 (day)
rg sg rg sg rg sg rg sg rg sg
M1 (SF) 6.66 1.68 19.15 6.39 26.32 10.92 51.86 12.97 74.36 15.46
M2 (BFS) 3.40 0.92 14.69 5.01 21.78 6.26 41.54 10.34 57.50 12.89
M3 (FA) 4.33 1.21 16.33 5.74 23.76 9.67 42.46 11.44 71.87 14.29
M4 (CLM) 2.20 0.42 8.60 1.57 14.61 3.28 27.95 5.81 41.79 7.12
M5 (SMT) 3.83 0.97 15.87 4.44 21.93 5.71 35.71 9.63 54.88 11.55
M6 (PRL) 3.69 1.03 17.36 4.70 22.66 6.26 41.57 10.76 60.00 13.18
M7 (BD) 3.13 0.72 15.52 3.02 22.77 5.42 34.46 9.90 52.77 11.89
M8 (CD) 3.50 0.91 14.35 3.63 19.80 5.61 31.36 8.27 44.48 9.58
M9 (MK) 7.38 1.70 26.84 7.89 35.25 12.08 53.32 13.89 76.45 16.12
M10 (RF) 4.69 1.26 20.46 6.45 24.98 8.67 41.82 11.62 65.26 13.98

Table 5
Ultimate pull-out load (Pb) and bolt bond strength (sb) of grouts.

Mix codes Pull-out tests

1 (day) 3 (day) 7 (day) 28 (day)
Pb (kN) sb (MPa) Pb (kN) sb (MPa) Pb (kN) sb (MPa) Pb (kN) sb (MPa)
M1 (SF) 69.9 7.94 84.6 9.61 99.3 11.28 110.9 12.60
M2 (BFS) 58.2 6.62 75.5 8.58 88.3 10.04 91.6 10.41
M3 (FA) 69.2 7.87 81.5 9.27 91.5 10.40 104.5 11.87
M4 (CLM) 29.5 3.36 47.7 5.42 62.0 7.05 71.8 8.17
M5 (SMT) 58.6 6.66 75.5 8.58 85.4 9.71 90.0 10.24
M6 (PRL) 55.3 6.29 82.6 9.39 90.3 10.27 96.6 10.98
M7 (BD) 38.3 4.35 70.5 8.02 80.1 9.10 88.2 10.03
M8 (CD) 39.9 4.53 58.2 6.62 69.4 7.89 85.3 9.69
M9 (MK) 73.7 8.37 86.5 9.84 107.4 12.21 112.6 12.80
M10 (RF) 62.2 7.08 83.8 9.52 92.3 10.50 100.7 11.45
380 A. Teymen / Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382

CS and BPI values of grouting materials for different curing time 18

were shown in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. Changing of bolt pull-out
load for all mixtures types and curing times were put forward in 16
Fig. 5. The mixture (M1) prepared with SF was gave 74.36 MPa
14
CS and 15.46 MPa BPI while the mixture (M9) with MK were given
76.45 MPa CS and 16.12 MPa BPI after 90 days of curing time. The

BPI of Grout, MPa

12
highest strength values were obtained from the FA mixture (M3)
after the mixture of MK (M9) and SF (M1). This admixture type 10
was given 71.87 MPa CS and 14.29 MPa BPI value. Using MK, SF
8
and FA admixtures in grouting mortar increased the CS, BPI and
sb values were compared with reference grout having 65.26 MPa 6
CS and 13.98 MPa BPI.
As shown in Figs. 3–5, these previously mentioned three mix- 4 SF BFS
FA CLM
tures were shown quite high strengths for all ages. All test results SMT PRL
2 BD CD
showed that the highest pozzolanic properties were belonging to MK RF
MK admixture. The most conspicuous situation among these three 0
admixture types belonged to the FA. Adding of FA was not 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
increased the CS or pull-out capacity of rockbolt in the short- Curing Time (days)
term, but improvements were realized in the long-term. The all
strength test of FA grout (M3) exhibited low values till 28 days of Fig. 4. The evolution of block punch index according to age.
curing time in accordance with reference grout, but a sharp
increase was observed after this period.
According to these findings, FA can be used in the production of 115
high-strength grout as an admixture material in engineering pro-
105
ject where early strength is not very important. The above men-
tioned admixtures can be replaced with cement under certain 95
circumstances. Thereby, it will be able to low-cost and high-
strength grout production. In addition, the storage problem of 85
wastes can be solved by using process wastes in grout mixtures,
Pb, kN

75
and the environmental damages of these wastes can be minimized.
Grouts M6 with PRL and M2 prepared using BFS were shown 65
the similar strength properties with reference grout especially
until 28 day curing period. The mixture M6 having CS of 55
41.57 MPa, mixture M2 was having CS of 41.54 MPa and reference 45 SF BFS
grout having CS of 41.82 MPa value was determined. Although, M2 FA CLM
SMT PRL
and M6 mixtures were showed similar strength properties to refer- 35 BD CD
MK RF
ence grout, increasing of their strength values were shown slow
25
down for the rest of the curing period.
It is considered that the admixtures used in this study will 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28
increase the grout strength, if these admixtures are used instead Curing Time (days)
of cement at different ratios. Remarkable findings regarding pull-
Fig. 5. The evolution of ultimate pull-out load according to age.
out load of rockbolts were determined. The Pb-sb of M2 mixture
and Pb-sb of M6 mixture were found as 88.3 kN–10.04 MPa and
90.3 kN–10.27 MPa after 7 days of curing time, respectively. Correspondingly, ultimate pull-out load of reference grout was
92.3 kN, and the sb of reference grout was 10.5 MPa. In this case,
it can be said that BSF and PRL admixtures can be used in some
80 engineering project and tunneling applications where early
strength is required. The most striking finding in this study relates
70 to colemanite admixture. It was found that this grout type exhib-
ited lower strength than the reference grout during all curing
60 times. Because of this result, colemanite was not recommended
CS of Grout, MPa

as replacing material. As can be seen Figs. 3–5, using coal dust,

50
basalt dust and simektit admixtures were having negative effects
for grout strengths. It may be possible that these admixtures can
40
be used in order to decreasing cement cost only.
30
4. Simple regression analysis
20 SF BFS
FA CLM
10
SMT PRL Regression analysis was performed to assess the correlations
BD CD
MK RF between strength of grouts and bolt pull-out test results for all cur-
0 ing times. Linear and non-linear regression analyses are rather ref-
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 erenced methods in fitting a line or a curve to a dataset of variables
Curing Time (days) that show statistically significant correlations. With regard to the
best fitted regression model, dependent variable values can be pre-
Fig. 3. The evolution of compressive strength according to age. dicted using any value of the independent variables.
 A. Teymen / Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382 381

120 120
1 day
110 a 110 b
3 day
100
100 7 day
90 28 day
90 Pb = 58,49Ln(CS) - 119,8
80 2
80 R = 0,93 (28 day)
70
Pb, kN

Pb, kN
70 60 Pb = 56,33Ln(CS) - 89,7
2
50 R = 0,87 (7 day)
60
40 Pb = 38,40Ln(CS) - 32,5
50 2
30 R = 0,78 (3 day)
40
Pb = 19,76Ln(CS) + 23,7 20 Pb = 36,87Ln(CS) + 4,0
30 2
R = 0,79 10 2
R = 0,77 (1 day)
20 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
CS of grout, MPa CS of grout, MPa

Fig. 6. The relationship between rg and Pb: a) independent from curing time and b) for all curing times.

In this study, regression equations were determined from the bolts. Both CS and pull-out test were performed under uniaxial
relationships between the strength properties of rockbolt and loading conditions. From the viewpoint of this technical reality,
the strength properties of grout by the way of linear and nonlin- predicting the LBC of rockbolt from CS of grout was useful
ear regression analyses. Both the shear strength and CS of the approach for design engineer. Fig. 6 shows the logarithmic rela-
grout materials have a significant effect on the rockbolts beha- tionship between CS of grouts and pull-out load of bolt. This rela-
viour. It was observed that increasing CS values of the grout tionship was formulated as follows for 28-day curing time
materials logarithmically increases with pull-out load of rock- (R2 = 0.93):

14 14
1 day
13 a 13
3 day
Tb = 5,50Ln(BPI) - 1,95
2
b
12 12 R = 0,92 (28 day)
7 day
Bolt bond strength, MPa

Bolt bond strength, MPa

11 11 28 day

10 10
Tb = 3,53Ln(BPI) + 3,02
9 9 2
R = 0,84 (7 day)
8 8
7 7 Tb = 2,86Ln(BPI) + 4,20
2
6 6 R = 0,85 (3 day)

5 Tb = 2,15Ln(BPI) + 5,76 5
2
Tb = 3,79Ln(BPI) + 6,27
4 R = 0,84 4 2
R = 0,84 (1 day)
3 3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
BPI of grout, MPa BPI of grout, MPa

Fig. 7. The relationship between sg and sb: a) independent from curing time and b) for all curing times.

80 80
1 day CS = 4,25.BPI + 6,35
70 a 70 3 day 2
R = 0,92 (90 day)
7 day b
60 60 28 day
CS = 3,38.BPI + 4,86
CS of grout, MPa
CS of grout, MPa

2
R = 0,91 (28 day)
90 day
50 50

40 40 CS = 1,67.BPI + 11,08
2
R = 0,79 (7 day)
30 30

20 CS = 2,33.BPI + 5,53
20 2
R = 0,83 (3 day)
CS = 4,27.BPI - 2,17
10 2 10 CS = 3,90.BPI + 0,06
R = 0,90 2
R = 0,94 (1 day)
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
BPI of grout, MPa BPI of grout, MPa

Fig. 8. The relationship between rg and sg: a) independent from curing time and b) for all curing times.
382 A. Teymen / Construction and Building Materials 145 (2017) 376–382
Pb ¼ 58:5lnrg  120 ð1Þ
Fig. 7 shows a powerful logarithmic correlation between BPI of
grout and bond strength of bolt. The relation between BPI of grout
and bond strength of bolt was formulated as follows after 28-day
curing time (R2 = 0.92):
sb ¼ 5:5ln sg  1:95 ð2Þ
Determining the relationship between sb and shear strength of
grout (BPI) is an efficacious approach with regard to mechanics of
rockbolt-grout interface. Because both test has been realized using
the shearing mechanism. A strong linear correlation was revealed
between grout mechanical properties such as CS and BPI for
28-day curing time in Fig. 8 (R2 = 0.91). This relationship was
formulated as follows:
rb ¼ 3:38sg þ 4:86 ð3Þ
In general, the increase in cure time has increased the correla-
tion coefficients. With the help of the derived equations, the
anchorage capacity of the rockbolts can be estimated by using
the strength values of the grouts.
5. Conclusions
In this study, the bolt bond strength and LBC of fully grouted
rockbolts inserted in basalt blocks with grouts prepared using dif-
ferent mineral admixtures were investigated experimentally and
evaluated statistically. All grout mixtures used grout material for
rockbolts was prepared at same water/binder ratio and 15% of min-
eral admixtures replaced with cement by weight. Grout specimens
were tested and compared with reference grout specimens for each
curing times. The following conclusions were determined from the
findings of this study:
1. Compressive and shear strengths as well as LBC of fully grouted
rockbolts were increased with some mineral admixture incor-
poration. Test results indicated that the high strengths grout
produced using mineral admixture was determined to gain
strengths in a shorter time than traditional grout. The presences
of metakaolin and silica fume was found to increase the early
strengths of grout. Such an increase in the strengths was not
achieved with simektit, basalt dust nor with other admixture
such as coal dust, colemanite.
2. The usage of metakaolin, silica fume and fly ash as admixture
materials in the grout mixtures increases the pull-out capacities
of rockbolts by ratios of 12%, 10% and 5%, respectively.
3. Mineral admixtures such as metakaolin, silica fume and fly ash
can be preferably used in grout to achieve higher resistance in
underground structures especially requested early strength.
Metakaolin and silica fume improved the mechanical properties
of the grout both in the short and long-term. Beneficial effect of
fly ash was realized in longer period.
4. The predictive models developed for estimating ultimate pull-
out load of rockbolt and bolt bond strength were proved reliable
in practical situations.
5. M2 and M6 mixtures shown the similar strength properties to
reference grout for 28 days curing time. The slow increase in
the strength values of these mixtures were observed for the rest
of the curing period.
6. It was concluded that the combined use of basic grout compo-
nents and mineral admixtures can make producing high
strength concrete possible, and the grout produced in this
way can be actively used in tunneling applications.
7. Other investigations can be performed with a finer and wider
range of mineral admixture types to determining the strength
effect of admixtures based on findings of this study.
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