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Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 259 – 264

15th International scientific conference “Underground Urbanisation as a Prerequisite for

Sustainable Development”

The analysis and control of inrush and mud gushing in the broken
rock tunnel under high water pressure
Wenfeng Zhou a,*, Shaoming Liao a
a
Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China

Abstract

As we all know, water inrush and mud gushing is very common in broken rock tunnels under high water pressure. Water inrush
and mud gushing often occurs under the action of seepage force because of high water pressure which can lead to the ground
subsidence, cracking and the damage of tunnel structures. In this paper, the author takes the engineering practice for example to
analyze the mechanism of water inrush and mud gushing under high water pressure and put forward appropriate treatment
methods. According to numerous researches on water disasters, two main types of water inrush and mud gushing in broken rock
tunnels are summarized: the partial cracking in the cross section and the longitudinal water inrush and landslide. This paper not
only describe where and when these two types of water inrush and mud gushing will happen but also the different formation and
mechanism of water inrush and mud gushing. In addition, prevention and treatment measures of water inrush and mud gushing
are put forward. The multiple advanced geological detections combined by long-term and short-term forecasts are the
fundamental measures that can effectively prevent the water inrush and mud gushing during the tunnel construction. Besides, the
effective treatment measures are also summarized, including the advanced drainage and advanced grouting method. Advanced
drainage is an effective method to relief energy of high water pressure, and advanced grouting can form a shelter that keep water
outside by filling the fissures and cracks with grouting materials in the fracture zones.
© 2016
© 2016Published
The Authors. Published
by Elsevier by Elsevier
Ltd. This is an openLtd.
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 15th International scientific conference “Underground
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Urbanisation
Peer-review as aresponsibility
under Prerequisiteoffor
theSustainable Development.
scientific committee of the 15th International scientific conference “Underground Urbanisation as a
Prerequisite for Sustainable Development
Keywords: Water inrush and mud gushing, broken rock tunnels, high water pressure, formation and mechanism, treatment methods;

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +8615801717051

E-mail address: zwf.sd@163.com

1877-7058 © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 15th International scientific conference “Underground Urbanisation as a
Prerequisite for Sustainable Development
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.11.798
260 Wenfeng Zhou and Shaoming Liao / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 259 – 264

1. Introduction

Water disaster is very common in mountain tunnels passing through broken rock zones which often contain rich
high-pressure water. Water inrush and mud gushing often occurs under the action of seepage force because of high
water pressure which can lead to the ground subsidence, cracking and the damage of tunnel structures. The joint
fracture of broken surrounding rocks provides space for water from the surface runoff and the atmosphere
precipitation. The physical, chemical and mechanical interaction between groundwater and rock soil mass can
reduce the soil strength and promote the development of rock fractures, and the mountain excavation may change
the supply, runoff and drainage conditions. In general, the high level pressure is a crucial factor in causing the water
disaster in tunnel construction. For example, in 1998 there happened a huge water inrush and mud gushing at the
tunnel face in Xinyongchun tunnel (Fu, Cha, Hsueh, 2004). The water pressure was as high as 5.0MPa, and the
water inflow rose from 15 m3/min to 80m3/min which resulted in the destruction of the already supported 540-meter
tunnel. Since 1974, water disasters happened for four times in Seikan tunnel (Fu, 1999), three of which happened at
the broken rock zones. The fault zone No.“F10” was at “32k747”. Before reaching the broken rock zone, there had
never had never been any water inrush. As the broken rock zone approached, the foot of the support was squeezed
out in the”32k850”. Then, the water inrush and mud gushing happened at the seepage discharge of 360L/min, and
caused huge economic losses.
Because of the complex geological and hydrological conditions, the exact location of the unfavorable
geological sections can not be fully determined, which can result in the unexpected disasters such as the water
inrush and mud gushing. So it is necessary to know the general mechanism, prevention and control measures of
water disaster in mountain tunnels. Based on the numerous cases of water inrush and sand gushing in mountain
tunnels, this paper try to summarize the cause of water inrush and sand gushing considering the conditions of
surrounding rocks and the influencing factors associated with the tunnel excavation. In addition, the different
treatment methods are put forward according to the different conditions of surrounding rocks and different level of
water pressure, and choose the appropriate treatment method for the particular case.

2. Project profile

With the rapid development of China’s economy, more and more infrastructures are being constructed, including
the mountain tunnel engineering. So the water disasters in the construction of mountain tunnels are very common.
In this paper, the author will take the Gongyuanlu tunnel for example to analyze the mechanism of water inrush and
mud gushing and put forward the appropriate treatment methods. The Gongyuanlu tunnel located in Fuyang,
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 1830 meters long, passes through the Shizishan mountain. According to the files of
the geological exploration, there are 7 huge, independent fracture zones on the way of the tunnel. These 7 fracture
zones can provide enough room for water from the surface runoff and atmosphere precipitationˈforming the water
pressure as high as 1.5Mpa, and the annual average precipitation is 1492.6mm.
Water will penetrate into the cracks in the surrounding rocks. Therefore, there is high risk of water inrush and
mud gushing during the excavation of tunnel in the water-rich zones. It is necessary to know the mechanism,
prevention and control measures of water inrush and mud gushing.

3. Formation and mechanism of the water disaster

3.1. The seepage regularity of underground water

Groundwater often flows through the pipelines, fissures and interspace. According to the form of the partial
motion, groundwater can be divided into 3 categories: Laminar flow, Turbulent flow and mixed flow. The formulas
to calculate ground water seepage flow rate are shown in Table 1.
 Wenfeng Zhou and Shaoming Liao / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 259 – 264 261

Table 1. Formulas to calculate ground water seepage flow rate (Li, 2015).
Motion state of seepage Formulas

ܳ ൌ ‫߱ܫܭ‬
Laminar flow
‫ ݒ‬ൌ ‫ܫܭ‬
ଵ
Turbulent flow ܳ ൌ ‫ ܫܭ‬ଶ ߱
ଵ
‫ ݒ‬ൌ ‫ܫܭ‬ଶ
ଵ
Mixed flow ܳ ൌ ‫ܫܭ‬௠ ߱
ଵ
‫ ݒ‬ൌ ‫ ܫܭ‬௠

Where Q is seepage flow, ߱ is cross section, K is permeability coefficient, I is hydraulic gradient, v is rate of
seepage, m is fluid index between 1 and 2.
Table 1 shows that seepage flow is related to cross section, permeability coefficient, hydraulic gradient and fluid
index. To reduce the seepage flow, some measures can be taken, such as reducing the hydraulic gradient,
permeability coefficient, and filling the cracks in the rocks.

3.2. The partial crack in the cross section

Fig. 1. Partial crack caused by high pressure of water.

As we all know, according to the definition of New Austrian Tunneling Method (Zhu, Yang, Shang, 2008), the
NATM is based on the concept whereby the ground (rock and soil) surrounding the tunnel becomes a load bearing
structural component through activation of a ring-like body of supporting ground. The integrity and the strength of
the surrounding rocks is the key factor that affects the stability, permeability and safety of tunnel structure.
We know that the surrounding rock itself has fractures which are the weak parts of rocks. If the water pressure
outside the surrounding rock is big and the drainage system is poor, water under high pressure will permeate through
the fractures. Water in the fractures with chemical composition not only corrode the structure of rocks but also
produce the normal force acting on the faces of fractures. Therefore, the high pressure will result in the growing of
fractures, and the strength of structural surface will be reduced greatly. Along with the disturbance of the
excavation, it is very likely that the tunnel is at risk of water inrush and mud gushing.
262 Wenfeng Zhou and Shaoming Liao / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 259 – 264

3.3. Longitudinal water inrush and landslide

Because of the surface runoff and atmosphere precipitation, the water level in the fractured zones is very high.
So it can provide large amount of potential energy which probably will put the tunnel structure at risk. Because of
the excavation of the tunnel, the seepage field and the surrounding rocks are disturbed, and the tunnel becomes the
new drainage channel. It is possible that the strength of slope is reduced and soil will slide into the tunnel under the
influence of seepage and water inrush. For example, Vasto Tunnel in Italy, 6200 meters long, passed through
several water-rich zones. The tunnel face without any supports couldn’t bear the high pressure of water and soil slid
into the tunnel, burying large amount of equipment and destroying tunnel structures heavily.
Reasons of this accident are the lack of accurate geological prospecting and necessary supports. So it is very
necessary to take some actions to avoid the risk. For example, before the tunnel face reaches the fractured zones,
some sophisticated advanced detection should be taken to ascertain the hydrogeological situation in case of water
spewing and landslide. Some advance supports should be applied if necessary to promote the strength of
surrounding rocks, besides, we can take advanced drainage sometimes to reduce water pressure and relieve energy
to make sure the stability of tunnel face.

4. Prevention and treatment measures of water disasters

As we all know, the treatment of water inrush and mud gushing of tunnel is a disturbing problem around the
world, because the treatment of water disaster not only takes a lot of time but also causes huge economic losses. For
example, the Seikan Tunnel, the longest subbottom tunnel in the world, was completed in 1988. During the
construction, the planed path would pass though several fracture zones with high pressure of water which lead to the
water inrush at the rate of 70m3/min, and it took five months to drain the submerged tunnel (Tan, Wang, Yang,
2001). The prevention measures sometimes are as important as the treatments, so some necessary prevention
measures should be taken before it is too late.
The multiple advanced geological detection is the fundamental measures that can effectively avoid the water
inrush and mud gushing during the tunnel construction. Nowadays, in order to improve the accuracy of detection
result of surrounding conditions, the geological forecast is often combined by long-term and short-term forecasts,
geophysical prospecting and advance drilling as well as regional detection and tunnel face detection. For example,
as for the case of high proneness of geological disaster areas, such as the fracture zones undersea, water–rich weak
faults with good hydraulic conductivity, the long distance forecast and short distance forecast are usually combined
by long-term and short-term forecasts, such as the TSP203(100m) , advance blast hole(5m) and CT or borehole
camera if necessary (Zhao, Tian, Chao, 2009).
Generally, there are two main measures used to treat the water inrush and mud gushing. The first is draining,
such as advanced drainage which is often used in the mountain tunnel to reduce the water pressure and relieve
energy (Zhao, Li, Tian, 2013). The other is blocking, such as the advanced grouting method, and this measure is
often used in the subbottom tunnel passes through the fracture zones. It not only create a shelter which can keep the
water out of tunnel but also improve the strength of surrounding rocks. However, each of the measures is not
applied alone. In most cases, both measures are applied together.
Advanced drainage is to drill holes on the tunnel face to drain water, reduce pressure and relieve energy.
Sometimes the height of water is as high as 200m which contains large amount of potential energy. As the
construction continues, if this potential risk is ignored, water probably rushes into the tunnel through the tunnel face
along with a lot of mud. For example, Zhongtianshan tunnel is a typical mountain tunnel characterized by high
water pressure as high as 6.3MPa (Wei, 2014). According to the files of advance detection, the condition of front
rocks was poor, and cracks developed completely. So the fissures of surrounding rocks provided space for the water
flow. After closing the other exploration holes, the water pressure of the last two holes rose sharply to 5.8Mpa in 50
minutes. After 200 minutes, water pressure was as high as 6.3Mpa, and the water rushed into tunnel at the rate of
5000m3/d which caused the suspension of construction. Considering the hydrogeological conditions, pressure
reduction and energy relief measures were adopted. Four scuppers were installed around the tunnel face to reduce
pressure and relieve energy. After that, the risk of water inrush and mud gushing was avoided.
 Wenfeng Zhou and Shaoming Liao / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 259 – 264 263

Fig. 2. Distribution of injection holes.

Fig. 3. Procedure of drilling and injection.

Advance grouting is a method which is conducted under controlled pressure to control the seepage and reinforce
the surrounding rocks by filling the fissures and cracks with grouting materials in the fracture zones. For advanced
grouting technology, before drilling the grout stopping wall is needed for the injection holes to be distributed on.
After the drilling of the boreholes is finished, the grouting materials are injected into the holes under controlled
pressure, then flow through the paths made up of fissures and cracks. The grouting materials will react with the
surrounding rocks, as a result, the broken rocks bear external force as an integral and form a shelter to keep the
water outside of tunnel. For example, Gongyuanlu Tunnel passes through as many as 7 water-rich fracture zones,
and the water head is as high as 2.0Mpa. In order to avoid the risk of water inrush and mud gushing, after careful
consideration and scientific calculation the advance grouting technology is adopted. The procedure of injection is
divided into 4 steps. As long as holes are drilled every 5-7 meters, the grouting materials are injected into the rocks.
Only when the quality of injection meets the requirements, next step is conducted. The distribution of injection holes
is shown in Figure 2, and the procedure of injection is shown in Figure 3.
264 Wenfeng Zhou and Shaoming Liao / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 259 – 264

5. Conclusions

Water inrush and mud gushing is associated with the conditions of surrounding rocks, such as the water pressure,
degree of fragmentation, surface runoff and the atmosphere precipitation. Above all, the high pressure of water is a
main factor, because it contains huge energy that induce the water disaster.
During the excavation, there are three forms of water disasters: partial cracking in the cross section caused by
water penetrate through the cracks which will develop under the high pressure, the longitudinal water inrush caused
by high pressure of water, and the destabilization of tunnel face caused by seepage.
Currently, in order to reduce the possibility of water inrush and mud gushing, multiple advanced geological
detection is very necessary. Because of the complexity of surrounding rocks, many detection technologies should be
combined to ensure the accuracy of results.
The category of water inrush and mud gushing treatment can be classified into draining and grouting. Usually
either of them used alone can not meet the requirements, so the combination of the two is common in practice.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge gratefully the support provided by Grant 2015CB057806 from The National Basic
Research Program of China (973 Program).

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