A case study of water inrush incident through fault zone in China and the corresponding treatment measures

Abstract

In 2010, a water inrush accident through a fault with a high flow rate occurred at Tianzhuang coal mine in Jining, Shandong Province, China, which was subject to the fault excavation. Grouting is an important treatment method before and after water inrush accidents. In this paper, the evolution of this water inrush accident is studied, and the effective treatment method is presented. The obtained results indicate that groundwater from Ordovician limestone aquifer 28.5 m below the floor flowed into the roadway through the fault zone. Results also show that this water inrush through the fault zone can be divided into a flow rate steady increase phase, a rapidly increase phase, a decrease phase, and a steady phase. The first two phases resulted from permeability increase of the fault, which was caused by seepage failure, and water level of the aquifer led to last two phases. Additionally, grouting using the ground borehole successfully controlled this water inrush accident, and it is proven to be a valid method.