Technical Notes
Aug 18, 2023

Analysis of the Catastrophe Mechanism and Treatment Countermeasures of a Sudden Water Inrush Disaster in a Long and Deeply Buried Tunnel in the Karst Area

Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 37, Issue 6

Abstract

Sudden water inrush disasters in long, deeply buried tunnels in karst regions not only seriously threaten the safety of tunnel engineering structures but are also geological disasters that are difficult to prevent and control. To achieve efficient and rapid treatment of water inrush disasters in tunnels by in-depth analysis of the causal mechanism of sudden water inrush in a long, deeply buried tunnel, an efficient treatment countermeasure, grouting plugging materials, and control measures of slurry leakage are developed. The results show that faults and fractured evaporite solution breccia are highly water permeable, and the excavation of a tunnel disrupts the groundwater flow direction. Gravity causes groundwater to gather in the weakest part of the tunnel, causing a water inrush disaster. To prevent a tunnel water inrush disaster, the countermeasure treatment of pretreatment with plugging of the water inrush site, grouting pre-reinforcement, water inrush plugging, and local reinforcement is proposed. Plugging materials suitable for the different characteristics of water inrush have been developed. These materials have a good effect on the narrowing and plugging of water inrush points. Shallow plugging techniques are proposed for the phenomenon of slurry leakage in the treatment process of water inrush disasters. Field displacement monitoring and similar engineering applications verify the effectiveness of the treatment countermeasures and grouting materials. This work provides a reference for the treatment of tunnel water inrush disasters.

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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

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52109125), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M680583), and the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talent of China (BX20200191).

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Go to Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 37Issue 6December 2023

History

Received: Sep 12, 2022
Accepted: Jun 13, 2023
Published online: Aug 18, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 18, 2024

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Ph.D. Candidate, State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu Univ. of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China. Email: [email protected]
Senior Engineer, China Construction First Group Construction Development Co., Ltd., Wanghua Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102, China. Email: [email protected]
Danqing Song [email protected]
Professor, State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China Univ. of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Jundong Chen [email protected]
Senior Engineer, China Railway Academy Co., Ltd., Xiyuecheng St., Jinniu District, Chengdu 610032, China. Email: [email protected]
Professor, School of Earth Science and Engineering, Nanjing Univ., Nanjing 210000, China. Email: [email protected]

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