Risk assessment of water inrush in karst shallow tunnel with stable surface water supply: Case study

Water inrush generally has a serious impact on karst shallow tunnel construction. Because of in situ fault fracture zone, high degree of weathering and poor quality of rock mass,. karst shallow tunnel would therefore face high risk of water inrush from surface during the disturbance of construction. In addition, the greater the surface water flow would contribute higher probability of water inrush under the same disaster-causing environment. However, existing research has paid less attention to the influence of surface water flow on faults or fissures water inrush. In this study, a risk assessment system of water inrush in karst shallow tunnel with stable surface water supply was firstly proposed on basis of Qinling Water Conveyance Tunnel and the Yuelongmen Tunnel in China. Each indicator was quantified and classified into four risk levels by the attribute mathematics theory and analytic hierarchy process, the degree of confidence criterion was then applied to identify the risk level of the water inrush. The evaluation results were finally verified by actual scenario on site to confirm the validity of this risk assessment system in karst shallow tunnel with stable surface water supply. Accordingly, the proposed method could be popularized and applied in future tunnel projects, because it could provide safe construction reference for karst shallow overburden tunnel with stable surface water supply.