Hydromechanical Coupled Analysis of Water Inrush in a Karst Cave-Fracture Rock System: A Case Study
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 36, Issue 6
Abstract
The water diversion tunnel of the Suki-Kinari hydropower station in Pakistan passes through deep valleys with karst caves. Water and mud inrush disasters occurred during tunnel construction because of the adequate water supply from valleys and numerous flow channels. In this work, we develop a karst cave-discrete fracture network model using the C++ code and conduct numerical simulations by ABAQUS version 2018 on a water inrush disaster. Then, considering different strengths and permeability in the reinforced area, we discuss the reinforcement of the fractured rock mass in order to prevent water inrush. Numerical results show that the combination of an increase in strength and one order of magnitude reduction in permeability of fractures is an effective measurement for preventing water inrush. For the specific geological conditions of the A6a diversion tunnel, numerical results indicate that the largest deformation of tunnel offsets toward the orientation of the karst cave. The influence of the relative position of the karst cave varies with cave water pressure, indicating it is essential to consider the relative position of the karst cave and cave water pressure simultaneously for water inrush assessment. In addition, the extent of symmetric deformation is also affected by the relative position between the karst cave and the tunnel.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51991392).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 36 • Issue 6 • December 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 30, 2021
Accepted: Jun 28, 2022
Published online: Aug 30, 2022
Published in print: Dec 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jan 30, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Caves
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Fracture mechanics
- Geohazards
- Geotechnical engineering
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic fracturing
- Hydromechanics
- Karst
- Models (by type)
- Numerical models
- Pressure (type)
- Solid mechanics
- Tunnels
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water pressure
- Water supply
- Water supply systems
- Water tunnels
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