Analysis of water and mud inrush in tunnel fault fracture zone—a case study of yonglian tunnel

Water and mud inrush disaster is easily induced during tunnel construction through water-rich fault fracture zones. In this paper, based on the field data, the process of water and mud inrush in tunnels is introduced in detail, and generation conditions and evolution mechanisms have been analyzed. Results show that the key factors of water and mud inrush include poor strata lithology, abundant groundwater and tunnel excavation disturbance. These key factors provide material conditions, source power and start-up conditions for water inrush, respectively. The evolution process of water and mud inrush can be divided into three stages: generation, development and occurrence. During generation stage, a seepage channel expands continuously, with water flow increasing gradually until a large range of loose zone is formed. During the development stage, a large amount of groundwater and a large range of softened muddy rock mass accumulates around the tunnel. During the occurrence stage, the "protective layer" and initial supports suddenly lose stability and are destroyed. These research results could provide some references for the effective prediction and forewarning of similar engineering disasters. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.