LABORATORY DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND FIELD CONTROL OF GROUTING MIXTURES EMPLOYED AT A NUCLEAR TEST IN SALT

摘要

In the Project DRIBBLE Salmón Event, the first of three planned events for the DRIBBEE program, a 5-kt nuclear device "was detonated near the bot-tom of a 2,720-foot-deep hole drilled vertically into a salt dome in Mississippi. This report describes work by the U. S. Army Engineer Water-ways Experiment Station in (l) furnishing grouting consultant services and technical assistance in the field during grouting operations, (2) conduct-ing stemming studies for the device emplacement hole, (3) developing formation-matching grouts for use in grouting instruments in place in deep drilled holes, (4) providing instruments for hole temperature determinations, and (5) making physical tests on salt cores from the project site. Based on the results of this investigation, the following conclusions are made.n1. Grout mixtures were successfully developed to meet all job re-quirements. Modifying mixtures to meet depressed temperature requirements did not appreciably alter the desired physical properties of the mixtures.n2. With the exception of one hole, all instrument holes were suc¬cessfully grouted. Difficulties were experienced in other holes;however, various remedial actions solved these problems.n3- The stemming operation for the device hole was highly successful in all respects.n4. Modifications and the addition of supplemental mixing equipment to the grouting systems considerably improved the quality control of the grout mixture. This improved quality control is believed to have been largely responsible for the successful grouting of the device and instrument holes.