Understanding Ground Rupture Due to Groundwater Overpumping by a Large Lab Experiment and Advanced Numerical Modeling

Ground rupture due to groundwater pumping is a major environmental hazard accompanying land subsidence in some areas. Ground ruptures usually develop when a significant compaction affects a sedimentary sequence with peculiar geological conditions, for example, the presence of a shallow bedrock with buried ridges. A laboratory test was developed with the aim at improving our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for rupture generation in this particular hydrogeological setting, typical, for instance, of the Guangming village, China. A 0.8-m high concrete prism, representing a rocky ridge, was placed in a 4.0-m long, 1.8-m wide, and 1.4-m high box and buried by alluvial material. The box was saturated and then drained, with the formation of a main crack above the prism-shaped ridge. The measured water content, vertical displacements, strains, rupture initiation, and growth are analyzed through an original coupled 3D-numerical model, simulating the variably saturated groundwater flow in a deformable and fractured porous medium. To our knowledge, this is the first application of such a kind of model to a lab-scale experiment. Despite the uncertainty on the material parameters, the numerical model allows satisfactorily reproducing the observed groundwater flow, land subsidence, and rupture features (depth and width). The rupture dynamics is captured in part as well, despite the employment of a simple Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and although other forces (e.g., electrochemical) may likely play a role at the metric scale of the lab test. The modeling outcomes provide a clear view on how the rupture develops from the surface and propagates downward.

Automated summary

This study conducted a laboratory simulation to investigate the mechanism of ground rupture caused by groundwater pumping, providing a theoretical basis for land subsidence under specific hydrogeological conditions. Despite the uncertainty in material parameters, the numerical model satisfactorily reproduced the observed groundwater flow, land subsidence, and rupture features.