Rheological Characterization and Accumulation Tests for Strong Thixotropic Engineering Slurry

Underground void subsidence hazards, especially mine goaf, have now become one of the major social problems affecting the well-being of civilians and development in China. The objective of this study was to propose a kind of strong thixotropic engineering slurry and filling treatment for use in underground void subsidence hazards. The optimal agent ratio for thixotropic cement slurry/mortar was obtained by indoor tests, where the rheological agent is 7.5% compared to the weight of cement, the water–solid ratio is in the range of 0.7~0.8, and the aeolian sand ratio can be 0~1.5 times that of cement. The rheological properties of slurry and mortar were tested using a Brookfield RST-SST rheometer. The results show that aeolian sand can be used as thixotropic cement mortar for a backfilling treatment for underground voids (mine goaf). The static yield stress increases non-linearly compared to existing thixotropic models. The stress decays sharply with shearing (the shear rate is more or less 10 s(−1)) and then the stress increases with the increase in shear rate (the shear rate is more than 10 s(−1)). The increase in the stress of the slurry is greater than in the mortar. A natural logarithmic function between yield stress and rest time (only 1 parameter), an exponential function with two parts for stress–shear rate (a rheology model, with only 3 parameters), and an exponential function for the accumulation law (only 2 parameters) were proposed in turn.