Justification of the technological possibility of connecting rolled polyethylene film with adhesive seams during the construction of anti-flood dams with diaphragms

Polyethylene is the most common material of films used in hydraulic construction. In the process of construction of hydro technical structures, rolled polyethylene film, manufactured in factory conditions, is connected into continuous anti-filtration structures: screens, diaphragms, curtains. A reliable method of joining the edges of polyethylene film is welding. But in some cases, for example, during the construction of anti-flood dams with anti-filtration diaphragms using a high-performance trenchless method of laying rolled polyethylene film in the soil, there is a need to use a more convenient method of joining the edges of the film, namely gluing. However, it is known that polyethylene, being a non-polar polymer, does not have sufficient adhesion to adhesives. In the article, the possibility of using the operation of gluing polyethylene film in certain processes of hydraulic construction is substantiated by successively conducting theoretical, experimental and field studies. According to the results of theoretical studies of the stress-strain state of adhesive seams of thin films made of materials obeying Hooke's law, it was established that the use of adhesives with a small modulus of elasticity provides a more uniform distribution of tangential stresses across the seam, compared to the use of adhesives with a large modulus of elasticity, which helps to increase the tensile strength of the adhesive seam of the films. This theoretically obtained result was first accepted as a hypothesis, and then confirmed by experimental studies. Samples of polyethylene film, connected with the help of glues with different modulus of elasticity, were tested for stretching on the MP-05-1 machine. It was established that with the use of rubber-based adhesives, the destruction of the adhesive seams of the films occurred at the moment when the tensile stress in the samples of polyethylene films in all cases exceeded the yield point of polyethylene. According to the results of field studies of the process of trenchless laying of rolled polyethylene film during the construction of earthen anti-flood dams with anti-filtration diaphragms, the possibility of joining the edges of the polyethylene film using glue based on nairite rubber was established.