Groundwater ingress to tunnels

Dimitrios Kolymbas

, Peter Wagner

Institute of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering, University of Innsbruck,

Technikerstr. 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Institute of Technical Mathematics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstr. 13,

6020 Innsbruck, Austria
27th February 2006
Abstract
An analytical expression for the estimation of the steady state ground-
water ingress into a drained tunnel of circular cross section is derived
on the basis of conformal mapping. The derived equation is equally
valid for deep and shallow tunnels and allows variable waterheads at
the tunnel circumference and at the ground surface. For deep tunnels
the derived equation coincides with the widespread equation of Good-
man. The implications of drainage upon the related seepage force are
pointed out.
KEYWORDS: Groundwater, tunnel, seepage, conformal mapping
1 Introduction
Water ingress into tunnels may be encountered as well in the construction
phase of any tunnel as in the operation phase of drained tunnels. Water
ingress in the construction phase may cause severe difculties and downtimes,
whereas water ingress in the operational phase may have severe environmental
impact by altering the groundwater regime and causing settlements of struc-
tures on the surface. To assess the related problems, the water ingress must
be somehow predicted in advance.
Such predictions are burdened by a high level of uncertainty with respect to
the waterhead in the ground and also the permeability of the ground. The

Corresponding author. Tel.: +43-512-5076671, fax: +43-512-5072996, e-mail-address:

dimitrios.kolymbas@uibk.ac.at
1
underlying reason is the highly inhomogeneous distribution of hydraulic con-
ductivity in the ground. Especially for rock with open joints, the hydraulic
behaviour of groundwater is mainly governed by the distribution of the joints,
which is hardly accessible to site investigations. For all these reasons, a so-
lution based on the, however unrealistic, assumption of homogeneous and
isotropic hydraulic conductivity is still welcome and may serve as a rst ap-
proximation, though amenable to further renements.
Taking into account additional difculties with respect to the unknown mass
balance with respect to inowing and outowing water into/from the section
under consideration, the additional assumption of steady ow appears justi-
able.
A prediction of groundwater inow into a drained tunnel can be analytically
obtained on the basis of several simplifying assumptions:
homogeneous and isotropic permeability
steady ow
circular tunnel cross section, held at constant hydraulic potential.
Admittedly, these simplications are in most cases not realistic. However, the
obtained solutions are still valuable for rough estimations. In view of the large
scatter of permeability, one should not seek for more than rough estimations.
Analytical expressions for the water ingress into tunnels are not very wide-
spread in the literature on tunnelling. There are several equations that can
be encountered which, however, cannot be easily compared with each other
because (i) of varying notation and (ii) in most cases the assumptions, upon
which the equations are based, are not explicitely stated. The equations pro-
posed by MUSCAT, GOODMAN, KARLSRUD, RAT, SCHLEISS, LEI and LOM-
BARDI are compiled by EL TANI [1], who presents a general approach based
2
on M

OBIUS transformation and FOURIER series. It is remarkable that the pro-

posed equations differ from each other and that EL TANIs general approach
has a large eld of applicability but is also hard to apply. The most widespread
equation is based upon an approximative approach by POLUBARINOVA-KO-
CHINA [2]. This equation is applicable for deep tunnels but it is not specied
how deep the considered tunnels should be. The derivation of this equation is
presented in this paper (Section 2), followed by the derivation of a rigorous
solution (Section 3) that is not limited to deep tunnels.
2 Water ingress into a drained circular tunnel
Let us consider a drained tunnel with a circular cross section. The surrounding
ground has the isotropic permeability K. If the inow into the tunnel is fed
by a large reservoir, then drainage does not affect the position of the ground
water table and a steady groundwater ow is achieved (Fig. 1).
To obtain computational estimations for the two-dimensional problem we
need to know the energy head h as function of x and y. The function h(x, y)
must have constant values (i) H at the ground surface y = 0, and (ii) h =
h
a
< H along the tunnel circumference. We assume that the circumferen-
tial drainage of the tunnel is a closed hydraulic system, the energy head of
which is kept to the constant value h
a
. If, however, in the circumferential tun-
nel drainage prevails atmospheric pressure, then this circumference is not an
equipotential curve with constant energy head. The assumption of constant
energy head along the tunnel circumference is not academic, since in drained
tunnels the inowing water is caught by the circumferential drainage system
consisting of geospaces and is guided to the longitudinal dewatering pipes.
There is a widespread solution which is based on a function that fulls only
the rst requirement, whereas the second one is only approximately fullled. [2]
3
Thereby, the degree of approximation increases with increasing depth of the
tunnel, i.e. for h
1
r. This function reads:
h(x, y) = c log
x
2
+ (y + h
1
)
2
x
2
+ (y h
1
)
2
+ H
with c = const. On the tunnel circumference x
2
+ (y h
1
)
2
= r
2
we have
h(x, y) = c log(1 + 4(yh
1
)/r
2
) + H. Instead of h
1
r y h
1
+ r we can
also write y = h
1
r+2r mit 0 1. Thus, for the tunnel circumference
we obtain:
h(x, y) = c log
_
1 + 4
h
2
1
r
2
+ 4 (2 1)
h
1
r
_
+ H
and for deep tunnels (h
1
r) this yields the approximation
h c log
_
4
h
2
1
r
2
_
+ H = const .
For a close neighbourhood > r around the tunnel we can write (with being
the radial coordinate):
h() c log
_
4
h
2
1

2
_
+ H (1)
and obtain with DARCYs law v = Kh the radial ow velocity
v
r
= 2Kc/r.
Thus, the volume q of water owing into one meter of tunnel length reads:
q = 2rv
r
= 4Kc.
Hence c = q/(4K). Taking into account the energy head h
a
< H along
the tunnel circumference, it follows from (1)
h
a
=
q
4K
log
_
4
h
2
1
r
2
_
+ H
or
q =
2K
log(2h
1
/r)
(H h
a
). (2)
4
Despite the existence of a rigorous solution (Equ. 3), the approximate solution
given by Equ. 2 is widespread in tunnelling. To take into account the irreg-
ular and anisotropic permeability of hard rock, the obtained value has to be
reduced by HEUERs empirical factor 1/8 cited in [3]. The inow q depends
linearly on the permeability K. In evaluating q, using eld measurements of
the permeability (obtained e.g. with packer tests), one should take into ac-
count the exponential scatter of the measured K-values. Following RAYMER,
a log-normal distribution applies to the statistics. The K values at the high
end tail of the distribution are decisive for the water inow into the tunnel.
3 Rigorous solution for the steady water inow to
a circular tunnel
We consider a tunnel with circular cross section in a soil or rock with homo-
geneous and isotropic permeability. With an appropriate drainage system, the
circumference of the tunnel is kept at a constant hydraulic head h
a
. The rig-
orous solution (i.e. determination of the steady water inow into the tunnel),
obtained with complex analysis, is presented here in full length, as it can be
hardly found in the engineering literature.
The water ingress into the tunnel can be determined by conformal mapping
similarly as in [4], Problem 55, p. 37: The circle and the horizontal line rep-
resenting the ground surface in Fig. 2 can be transformed to two concentric
circles by the M

OBIUS transformation
w = f(z) =
r(z cr)
cz + r
with c = i
h
1

h
2
1
r
2
r
= i b and i =

1.
f(z) maps the circle z z = r
2
into the same circle: With

f(z) =
r( z+ cr)
c z+ r
we
obtain f

f = r
2
. As usual in complex analysis, the bar denotes the conjugate
complex number.
5
The horizontal line z = i h
1
+ x, x R, is mapped to a circle with radius R:
f(z) =
r (i h
1
+ x cr)
c (i h
1
+ x) + r
= r
2
x + i
_
h
2
1
r
2
(h
1

_
h
2
1
r
2
)(i x +
_
h
2
1
r
2
)
|f| =
_
f

f =
r
2
h
1

_
h
2
1
r
2
=: R .
We introduce the complex potential F(z) = log w = log f(z) = log r +
log(z cr) log(cz + r). With log w = log |w|
. .

+i we obtain = Re(F)
as the potential to describe ow into the tunnel. At the circle |z| = r it
assumes the value

T
= log r
and at the straight line Im(z) = h it assumes the value

S
= log R.
In order to attain there the prescribed values h
a
and H (Fig. 1), respectively,
we set h(x, y) = C
1
(x + i (h
1
y)) + C
2
and determine C
1
and C
2
from the equations
h(x, 0) = C
1
log R + C
2
= H
and h(x, y) = C
1
log r + C
2
= h
a
for x
2
+ (y h
1
)
2
= r
2
, i.e. for
(x, y) lying on the tunnel circumference. This yields
C
1
=
H h
a
log(R/r)
,
where Hh
a
is the head difference between the ground surface and the tunnel
circumference. Furthermore, C
2
= H C
1
log R. Thus, nally,
h(x, y) = H +
H h
a
log(R/r)
log
_
r
R

x + i (h
1
y) c r
c(x + i (h
1
y)) + r

_
The discharge (per m of tunnel length) q of water inow is given by the for-
mula
q =
_
A
v n ds,
6
where A denotes the tunnel circumference x
2
+ (y h
1
)
2
= r
2
, n the
unit normal vector pointing outward, and ds the length element on this circle.
By DARCYs law, we have v = K h and GAUSS divergence theorem
yields
q = K
_
A
_
h dx dy,
where A is the cross section x
2
+ (y h
1
)
2
r
2
of the tunnel. After a
translation we obtain
q = K C
1
_
|z|r
_
dx dy = 2 K C
1
.
Note that the well-known equation log |z| = 2
0
(i.e.
1
2
log |z| is the
fundamental solution of the Laplace operator in the plane) implies
= log

r(z c r)
c z + r

= 2 (
z
0

z
1
) ,
where z
0
= cr lies inside the circle |z| = r and z
1
= r/c lies outside,
and
z
0
,
z
1
are DIRAC delta functions at z
0
, z
1
, respectively. Hence
_
|z|r
_
dx dy = 2.
So nally
q =
2K(H h
a
)
log
r
h
1

h
2
1
r
2
=
2K(H h
a
)
log
h
1
+

h
2
1
r
2
r
. (3)
holds for the rigorous solution.
For h
1
>> r, we have
h
1
+
_
h
2
1
r
2
2h
1
and hence
q
2K(H h
a
)
log(2h
1
/r)
7
in accordance with the approximate solution in Equ. 2.
Since M

OBIUS transformations map the set of circles and lines into itself, the
equipotential curves, i.e. the level curves of h, are circles, and so are the or-
thogonal ow lines depicted in Fig. 1. These latter ones are the circles through
the two points (x, y) such that f(z) = f(x + i (h
1
y)) becomes 0 and ,
respectively, i.e. z = cr and z =
r
c
, which yields (x, y) = (0,
_
h
2
1
r
2
).
Of course, the centers of these circles must lie on the coordinate line y = 0,
since they intersect this line orthogonally.
The distribution of the radial ow velocity along the tunnel circumference can
be determined as follows:
With z = e
i
= (cos + i sin ) and

log |f| =

log(f

f)
1/2
=
1
2

log f

f we obtain:

_
log | e
i
cr| log |c e
i
+ r|
_
=

_
log | cos + i ( sin br)|
log | b sin + r + i b cos |
_
=
rb sin

2
2rb sin + b
2
r
2

b
2
br sin
b
2

2
2br sin + r
2
,

=r
=
1
r
1 b
2
1 2b sin + b
2
.
Thus, the radial ow velocity at the tunnel circumference reads
v
r
() = K C
1

=r
=
K(H h
a
)
log(R/r) r

1 b
2
1 2b sin + b
2
.
In order to determine the inowalong the angular sector <
0
< <
1

of the cirumference, we use the formula
_
d
A B sin
=
2

A
2
B
2
arctan
_
B Atan

2

A
2
B
2
_
8
with A := 1 + b
2
, B := 2b,

A
2
B
2
= 1 b
2
, cf. [5], formula 2.551.3.
Thus the water ingress along the sector
0
< <
1
is given by
q

1
= r

1
_

0
v() d
=
2K(H h
a
)
log(R/r)
_
arctan
_
2b (1 + b
2
) tan

1
2
1 b
2
_
arctan
_
2b (1 + b
2
) tan

0
2
1 b
2
_
_
.
In particular, for
0
= ,
1
= , we obtain, as previously,
q =
2K(H h
a
)
log(R/r)
.
Equ. (3) shows that q depends non-linearly on the tunnel radius. E.g. for
h
1
= 30 m, an increase of r from 3 m to 6 m (i.e. by 100%) causes an increase
of q of only 30 %.
The merit of equation 3 lies in its consistency and validity not only for deep
but also for shallow tunnels. It presupposes homogeneous and isotropic per-
meability.
There is also a solution for the case of permeability decreasing with depth [6].
The resulting expression is, however, quite complicated. In viewof the always
existing inhomogeneity and the large scattering of measurements of the per-
meability, the application of this solution does not appear to be justied.
3.1 Seepage force
Tunnels below the groundwater table are either drained or sealed. The lining
of sealed tunnels has to carry the full hydrostatic pressure. The advantage of
sealing is that the groundwater is not changed (protection of environment). If
a tunnel is drained, i.e. if ground water ow towards the tunnel lining is al-
lowed, then the hydrostatic pressure acting upon the lining is reduced. How-
ever, the seepage force should be taken into account. It acts (as a volume
9
force) upon the ground and thus increases the rock/earth pressure on the lin-
ing.
To demonstrate the effect of the seepage force, an approximate solution for the
pressure upon the crown, exerted by the ground, can be used [7]. According
to this solution, the pressure exerted by the ground upon the crown of an
undrained tunnel (Fig. 3) reads:
p
c
= h

c
r

cos
1sin
1 +
h
r

sin
1sin
+
w
(H + h). (4)
The second term in Equ. 4 represents the water pressure acting upon the
crown. For a drained tunnel, this term drops out and the unit weight

of the
ground has to be increased by the seepage force i
w
. Assuming a linear dis-
tribution of hydraulic energy head above the crown, we obtain the hydraulic
gradient approximately as
i =
H + h
h
.
Consequently, the ground pressure acting upon the crown of a drained tunnel
reads
p
c
= h

c
r
cos
1sin
1 +
h
r
sin
1sin
+
w
H + h
1 +
h
r
sin
1sin
.
10
References
[1] M. El Tani, Circular tunnel in a semi-innite aquifer, Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology 18 (2003), 49-55
[2] P. Ya. Polubarinova-Kochina: Theory of Ground Water Movement,
Princeton University Press 1962, p. 374
[3] J.H. Raymer, Predicting groundwater inow into hard-rock tunnels: Es-
timating the high-end of the permeability distribution. Proceedings of
the Rapid Excavation and Tunnelling Conference, Society for Mining,
Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc., 2001
[4] N.N. Lebedev, I.P. Skalskaya, Y.S. Uyand: Worked Problems in Ap-
plied Mathematics, Dover, New York, 1965
[5] I.S. Gradshteyn, I.M. Ryshik: Table of Integrals, Series and Products,
Academic Press, New York, 1980
[6] L. Zhang, J. A. Franklin, Prediction of water ow into rock tunnels:
An analytical solution assuming a hydraulic conductivity gradient,
Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., 30, No 1, 37-46, 1993
[7] D. Kolymbas, Tunnelling and Tunnel Mechanics, Springer, 2005
11
. Ground surface
y
Figure 1: Groundwater inow into a drained tunnel (radius r)
h
1
r
Im
Re
Figure 2: Circle and line in the complex plane
y
Figure 3: Tunnel below groundwater level