A Study on Distribution Measurement and Mechanism of Deformation due to Water Loss of Overburden Layer in Vertical Shaft

Abstract EN

Based on FBG fiber Bragg grating technology and BOTDA distributed optical fiber sensing technology, this study uses fine sand to simulate overburden layer in vertical shaft model equipment.

It studies the placing technique and test method for optical fiber sensors in the overburden layer, combined with MODFLOW software to simulate the change of the water head value when the overburden layer is losing water, and obtains the deformation features of overburden layer.

The results show, at the beginning of water loss, the vertical deformation increases due to larger hydraulic pressure drop, while the deformation decreases gradually and tends to be stable with the hydraulic pressure drop reducing.

The circumferential deformation is closely related to such factors as the distance between each drainage outlet, the variations of water head value, and the method of drainage.

The monitoring result based on optical fiber sensing technology is consistent with the characteristics of water loss in overburden layer simulated by MODFLOW software, which shows that the optical fiber sensing technology applied to monitor shaft overburden layer is feasible.