Dynamic Change Characteristics of Groundwater Affected by Super-Long Tunnel Construction in the Western Mountainous Area of China

The problem of groundwater is very prominent in super-long tunnel construction, which brings serious potential safety hazards and economic losses to the project. The knowledge of dynamic change characteristics of groundwater and prediction of water inflow is the key to ensure rational design and safe construction in super-long tunnel. In this paper, numerical simulation and in situ observation are conducted to investigate dynamic change characteristics of groundwater and the prediction of water inflow based on the Daxiangling tunnel in Sichuan Province of China. The results show that the numerical model established with detailed geological data and validated with field monitoring data can effectively analyze dynamic change characteristics of groundwater, as well as predict water inflow. The initial state of groundwater is steady when the tunnel is unexcavated. Tunnel excavation has a significant influence on the distribution of groundwater. The flow direction of groundwater will change, and the contour lines of groundwater will be intensive at the tunnel face. These changes will be more obvious and dramatic when the tunnel is excavated into the fault zone, which is a signal that the water inrush is more likely to occur in the fault zone because of a lot of joints and fractures. A connected linear cavity is formed with tunnel holing-through and groundwater begins to flow vertically downwards to the tunnel. As far as the prediction of water inflow is concerned, the numerical method can more precisely calculate the value of water inflow with less than 15 percent relative error compared with the groundwater dynamics method.