Water Inflow Prediction and Grouting Design for Tunnel considering Nonlinear Hydraulic Conductivity

Grouting prevents groundwater leakage into tunnels, based on the exponent model that expresses the nonlinear variation of the hydraulic conductivity of the surrounding rock, the formulas for predicting the magnitude of water inflow and outer water pressure of the lining after grouting are deduced. The parameter analysis shows how the water inflow decreases as the hydraulic conductivity of the grouting circle diminishes and the thickness of the grouting circle increases. When the parameter alpha (attenuation coefficient), which expresses the decreasing amplitude of the permeability coefficient of the surrounding rock with depth, is greater than 0, the water inflow increases until it reaches a maximum at a certain depth, and then the inflow decreases to 0 if deep enough. After considering the variation in the hydraulic conductivity of the surrounding rock, the thickness and hydraulic conductivity of the grouting circle may be designed to be too large to reduce the magnitude of the water inflow. Meanwhile, to reach the limited drainage criterion of the tunnel groundwater, the grouting circle thickness decreases gradually as alpha increases after the nonlinear variation of the hydraulic conductivity of the surrounding rock, which can reduce the cost for plugging the groundwater. Thus, it is critical to consider hydraulic conductivity variation during water inflow predicting and grouting when designing tunnels.