Effect of environmental temperature and fly ash addition in hydraulic lime grout behaviour

The purpose of grout injection is to increase the compactness of the masonry and its injection optimization is a task of major importance for masonry consolidation. Fresh grout properties seem to be as important as the ones in the hardened state since grout consistency is an essential characteristic to allow the filling of voids. Since the grout rheological behaviour is associated with its fresh properties, they should be well understood and controlled so that the fluid may be pumped and flow correctly inside the porous media. This paper analyses some relevant rheological properties for natural hydraulic lime grouts, such as yield stress, plastic viscosity, consistency and power-law index. The study envisage to increase the understanding of the influence of environmental temperature and of the addition of fly ash in fresh grouts behaviour. An attempt was made to achieve an optimal grout composition by using the Taguchi method. The paper shows that fly ash is capable of substantially changing the grout rheological parameters, while the effect of temperature is negligible for the parameters tested.