Underground Construction - January 2019 - 34

Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology

CIGMAT Report
Transferring Technology

from Control Studies to Actual Applications
C. Vipulanaden, Ph.D., P.E., professor and director of the Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology (CIGMAT),
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston

The Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology (CIGMAT)
is a joint university-industry consortium, led by Director Dr. C. Vipulanandan (Vipu), P.E., Smart Cement Inventor, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Houston.
CIGMAT focuses its research studies on oil, gas, water and wastewater infrastructures and pipelines maintenance; developing new highly
sensing "smart" materials for construction, maintenance and repairs;
and detecting gas, oil and water leaks. Other studies include quantifying
corrosion and environmental issues.
Current projects involve developing real-time monitoring systems
for both laboratory research and field applications, and onshore- and
offshore-related applications including drilling, oil well cementing,
grouting, coatings and hydraulic fracturing. Studies also cover corrosion,
treatment of expansive and contaminated soils, physical modeling of
pipe-soil interaction simulating ultra-deepwater conditions, chemical
resistance of cementitious materials and behavior of coating materials
used as insulators of oil pipelines. Other studies are investigating the
effects of various types of nanoparticles on the performance of material
and microbial fuel cells.
CIGMAT researchers make every effort to transfer technology from
control studies to actual applications. For example, in recent years, CIGMAT has developed unique testing facilities, including high-pressure,
high-temperature (HPHT) testing of materials for oil and gas infrastructure; and protocols, approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, to test grouts and coatings for infrastructure rehabilitation.
Also, the CIGMAT Life Cycle Cost model (CIGMAT-LCC) for wastewater
systems is being used by cities, counties and the public.
In the past two decades, CIGMAT has researched and tested more
than five dozen commercial products, including rapid repair materials,
coatings, grouts, liners, cementitious and polymer composites and pipes,
for numerous applications. Microbial fuel cell technology is being further
developed to both treat oily waste and recycle highly salty fracturing
fluids. In addition, the observed trends are analytically and numerically
modeled to better understand the influence of various testing and environmental parameters. Vipulanandan rheological model and Vipulanandan failure models are being verified with CIGMAT test results and data
available in the literature.
* Ongoing research at CIGMAT is funded by federal, state and local
agencies and industries. A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded
project is broadening use of smart cement and smart drilling mud for
real-time monitoring of oil well installation and performance during
the entire service life, as well as for civil infrastructure applications.
Smart cement is being used as the binder in developing and characterizing concrete, and in creating systems monitor the performance of
the cement sheath that is embedded between the casing and geological formations.

JANUARY 2019 | UConOnline.com

Additional research includes:
* Further developing the highly sensing smart cement (being patterned
in several countries), smart drilling fluids, smart spacer fluids and
smart grouts for various applications,
* Evaluating performance of smart grouted sand columns for monitoring earth embankments, failure theory for rocks, smart cement contaminated with clay
* Developing methods to treat contaminated soils and expansive clays
* New non- destructive technology for detecting and quantifying corrosion (being patterned), and multifunctional microbial fuel cells
* Commercializing "smart" cement technology, funded by the National
Science Foundation
* Following are details about three current studies.

Smart Grouted Sand Columns for Real-Time Monitoring of Earth Dams
An earth dam is an artificial barrier built using earth materials primarily
to retain water in a confined area. Other uses are for water supply, flood
control, irrigation, energy production, recreation and fishing (International Commission on Large Dams, ICOLD). Also known as earth-fill
dams, they are classified into four types according to their structure:
gravity, buttress, embankment and arch dams. More than half (52 percent) of the world`s 11,000 earth dams are in China, with 16 percent in
the United States, and 6 percent in Japan.
One of the main problems with earth dam is seepage. A seepage line,
or phreatic line, is used to understand the degree of seepage and the
effect on the dam's stability. In the saturation zone, which is below the
phreatic line, there is positive hydrostatic pressure and the flow will reduce the shear strength of the soil due to the excess pore-water pressure.
The purpose of monitoring earth dams is not only to ensure the general stability of the dam during construction, but also to ensure there is no
internal erosion or piping resulting from seepage during the service life.
Recent earth embankment failures around the world clearly indicate the
importance of monitoring for maintenance and in minimizing damages.
Measurements made for monitoring of earth fill dams normally
include horizontal-vertical deformations, shear stress, stain, seepage,
seismic movement and phreatic surface line. The instruments used for
monitoring are piezometers, inclinometers, settlement cells, extensometer and pressure cells.
In recent years, CIGMAT has developed highly sensing "smart" cements and grouts as bulk sensors that make the entire material become
a sensing tool. This study was conducted to investigate the behavior of
smart acrylamide grouted sands for use in earth dams for monitoring.
Specifically, the objectives were to study the effect of particle size and
distribution on the mechanical, permeability and sensing properties

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Underground Construction - January 2019

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