Effects of tunneling on groundwater flow and swelling of clay-sulfate rocks
Name
Einstein_Effects of tunneling.pdf
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4.16 MB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
34e9ddd7ac125e242c160ff8b90c183d
Author(s)
Butscher, Christoph
Einstein, Herbert H.
Huggenberger, Peter
Date Issued
November 2011
Journal
Water Resources Research
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Butscher, Christoph, Herbert H. Einstein, and Peter Huggenberger. “Effects of Tunneling on Groundwater Flow and Swelling of Clay-sulfate Rocks.” Water Resources Research 47.11 (2011).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
[1] Swelling of clay-sulfate rocks is a major threat in tunneling. It is triggered by the transformation of the sulfate mineral anhydrite into gypsum as a result of water inflow in anhydrite-containing layers after tunnel excavation. The present study investigates the hydraulic effects of tunneling on groundwater flow and analyzes how hydraulic changes caused by excavation lead to water inflow into anhydrite-containing layers in the tunnel area. Numerical groundwater models are used to conduct scenario simulations that allow one to relate hydrogeological conditions to rock swelling. The influence of the topographic setting, the excavation-damaged zone around the tunnel, the sealing effect of the tunnel liner, and the geological configuration are analyzed separately. The analysis is performed for synthetic situations and is complemented by a case study from a tunnel in Switzerland. The results illustrate the importance of geological and hydraulic information when assessing the risk of swelling at an actual site.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011wr011023
