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Physical model test of transparent soil on coupling effect of cut-off wall and pumping wells during foundation pit dewatering

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Abstract

Water level is decreased during foundation pit excavation to avoid water inrush under confined water pressure. Cut-off wall is often used as waterproof curtain to partially cut off the dewatered aquifer. When a foundation pit is located in a built-up area and the underlying confined aquifer is not cut off, the drawdown must be minimized outside the pit to avoid land subsidence in buildings and pipelines. The coupling effect of the cut-off wall and pumping well is used to control the drawdown outside the foundation pit. However, the coupling mechanism is not intuitively well understood because of the limitations of existing experimental methods. In this study, transparent soil was introduced to model the coupling mechanism in the physical model test. High-purity fused silica and mixed paraffin oil were used as skeleton and fluid to simulate the confined aquifer and groundwater. Industrial solid dye and paraffin oil were used as tracers. A camera was used to collect flow information. Tests were performed for the combinations of cut-off wall and partially penetrating pumping wells. The insertion depth ratio of the cut-off wall most effectively influenced the drawdown. The layout of the pumping wells in horizontal direction influenced water level distribution and flow rate. The optimal depth of the pumping wells was 1–5 m above the bottom of the cut-off wall, and the optimal horizontal distance between the cut-off wall and the pumping wells was 25% of the pit width. Non-Darcy flow was observed within the range of 0–10 m around the bottom of the cut-off wall. These results were significant in understanding the cut-off wall and pumping well coupling effect on foundation pit dewatering.

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Abbreviations

DDR:

Drawdown decreasing rate, it is equal to the water level difference of both sides of cut-off wall divided by the water level inside pit

A :

Insertion depth that the cut-off wall penetrates into the confined aquifer

B :

Horizontal distance between the pumping wells and the cut-off wall

C :

Vertical distance from the bottom of the well screens to the bottom of the cut-off wall

D :

Thickness of the confined aquifer

a/D :

Insertion depth ratio of the cut-off wall

L :

Well screen length

N :

Pumping wells number

\(\alpha_{l}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of geometry

\(\alpha_{F}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of force

\(\alpha_{t}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of time

\(\alpha_{g}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of gravity

\(\alpha_{P}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of pressure

\(\alpha_{\Delta h}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of drawdown

\(\alpha_{\rho }\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of density

\(\alpha_{v}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of flow velocity

\(\alpha_{K}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of hydraulic conductivity

\(\alpha_{\mu }\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of viscosity

\(\alpha_{Q}\) :

Independent similarity ratio variables of flow rate

D :

Distance in Cartesian coordinate system (RGB color model)

R u , G u , B u :

Identify point value of tracers in RGB color model

R r , G r , B r :

Standard value of tracers in RGB color model

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by National Key Basic Research Program of China (2014CB046901); National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0806000), the research grant (2014-SK-8) from Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai Pujiang Program (15PJD039), Opening fund of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (Chengdu University of Technology) (SKLGP2018K019), Shanghai Municipal Science and technology project (16DZ1201303), GDUE Open Funding (SKLGDUEK1417), LSMP Open Funding (KLLSMP201403, KLLSMP201404).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jianxiu Wang, Xiaotian Liu, Shaoli Liu & Jie Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jianxiu Wang & Jie Zhou

  3. Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200032, China

    Yanfei Zhu & Weiqiang Pan

  4. Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jianxiu Wang

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Wang, J., Liu, X., Liu, S. et al. Physical model test of transparent soil on coupling effect of cut-off wall and pumping wells during foundation pit dewatering. Acta Geotech. 14, 141–162 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-018-0649-2

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