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Evaluation of the effectiveness of an alternative to control groundwater inflow during a deep excavation into confined aquifers

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Abstract

This paper presents a case study of groundwater control for a deep excavation into confined aquifers in Fuzhou, China. Field pumping tests were first carried out prior to the excavation to investigate the groundwater conditions at the site and as well as to evaluate the feasibility of previous designed dewatering systems (34 m diaphragm walls together with pumping wells). The results showed that under the condition of previous dewatering systems it would have been extremely difficult to safely lower the water level inside the excavation. A co-working scenario of partially penetrating curtains and horizontal waterproof curtain with jet grouting was then proposed to control groundwater inflows. Additional water-tightness assessment tests (WAT) were then performed that allowed to confirm the efficiency of the proposed method. From the feedbacks of WAT, this proposed scenario not only successfully lowered the water lever inside the excavation below the excavation bottom (maximum drawdown up to 14.9 m), but also it minimized the drawdown outside the excavation (less than 0.2 m). Furthermore, an approach was proposed to approximately estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the jet-grouting at the real site from the result of WAT. The hydraulic conductivity of jet-grouted soil is three orders of magnitude lower than that of the original sediments.

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Acknowledgements

Funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no: 51938008, 51778636) are gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful for the funds provided by Guangzhou Metro Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. and CCCC Strait Construction Investment and Development Co., Ltd. The authors also thank CCCC First Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd. for cooperation in the field tests and data collection for this study. The insightful comments and suggestions from the anonymous reviewers, associate editor and editor are sincerely appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Chengyong Cao

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410075, China

    Chenghua Shi, Linghui Liu & Jianwen Liu

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  1. Chengyong Cao
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  2. Chenghua Shi
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  3. Linghui Liu
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Correspondence to Chenghua Shi or Linghui Liu.

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Cao, C., Shi, C., Liu, L. et al. Evaluation of the effectiveness of an alternative to control groundwater inflow during a deep excavation into confined aquifers. Environ Earth Sci 79, 502 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09253-3

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