Experimental studies on stabilization techniques for ground over abandoned subsurface excavations

Blind hydraulic backfilling is a commonly used technique for subsidence control of the strata over unapproachable waterlogged underground excavations. In this investigation model studies on all the three variants of this technique, namely, hydro-pneumatic or air-assisted gravity backfilling, pumped-slurry backfilling and simple gravity backfilling, have been carried out in fully transparent models of the underground excavations. On examination of the filling process, it was revealed that in all the three cases, the basic process of filling occurs by sand transport along one or more meandering channels. The relative influence of sand, water and air flow rates on the area of filling from a single inlet point and the hydraulic pressure loss per unit length were studied in details. In hydro-pneumatic backfilling process, the air bubbles while moving upward through the meandering channels provide an additional buoyant force over and above the available hydraulic head. In this way the area of filling from a single borehole may be quite large even at small flow rates of water. During actual field implementation the injected air, if not released completely from the rise side holes, may cause troubles by way of creating potholes on the surface. The pumped-slurry technique has shown its capability of filling a relatively larger area at faster rate, especially when high-volume, low-pressure method was selected. But simple gravity filling was also found to be equally effective method as slurry pumping, especially when flow rates were high. In the second and third method discussed above, examination of variations of injection pressure was also done and its relation with physical phenomenon was also attempted. Some empirical relationships were also developed using multivariate regression with a view to help the practicing engineers.