Hydrogeological reference conditions for assessment of environmental impact and for grouting design

Paper i proceeding, 2018

Dewatering of groundwater resources induced by leakage into underground constructions can cause land subsidence, damage to constructions and their foundations and disturbances of groundwater dependent ecosystems. To reduce the environmental impacts, safety measures, e.g. sealing fractures by grouting to reduce inflow of groundwater or artificial recharge to maintain groundwater levels, must be implemented. Site investigations of the total geological and hydrogeological conditions at a site before construction is, due to financial aspects, most often not possible. To handle these uncertainties in the design- and construction process, it is suitable to use the observational method, which include the idea of identification, confirmation or rejection, and revision of the most probable and unfavorable conditions, and predefined technical design solutions for conditions that can reasonable be anticipated or foreseen. To assess the geological and hydrogeological conditions at an early stage of a project we suggest that geological and related hydrogeological reference conditions are used. Fundamental to our approach using reference conditions is the grouping of materials with similar geological and hydrogeological conditions and engineering characteristics. In this paper, we present conceptualizations of five reference conditions common in western Sweden and two examples of reference conditions in Singapore. The conceptualization of reference conditions includes a description of: the geological material; the hydrogeological properties and behavior within the environment; and the engineering characteristics related to water control and grouting. Examples of technical design solutions used to adopt to project specific requirements for inflow and drawdown for underground constructions constructed in environments representing one of the suggested reference conditions in western Sweden are also presented to exemplify the application of reference conditions for technical design.