An analytical solution for groundwater inflow of circle foundation pit with suspended waterproof curtains in the unconfined aquifer.

Evaluating groundwater inflow is greatly significant for ensuring the safety and economy during foundation pit dewatering with suspended waterproof curtains. However, there are limited applicable methods to predict the groundwater inflow of circle foundation pit with waterproof curtains in deep unconfined aquifers. In this study, based on Darcy's law and the continuity of water flow, the impact of suspended waterproof curtains on groundwater seepage was initially analyzed during circle foundation pit dewatering in deep unconfined aquifers. Furthermore, an analytical solution was proposed for groundwater inflow of circle foundation pit with suspended waterproof curtains in the unconfined aquifers. The effect of suspended waterproof curtains on seepage area, seepage direction, and seepage path were respectively considered by introducing the buried depth of waterproof curtain, the anisotropy coefficient, and the seepage path reduction coefficient. Finally, based on the self-conducted indoor seepage experiment and other cases (an indoor seepage experiment and two actual engineering projects), this proposed method was applied to conduct a comparative analysis with the existing methods. Results indicated that the proposed method can more reasonably evaluate the groundwater inflow of circle foundation pit with waterproof curtains in the unconfined aquifer, which can provide a better guidance for the groundwater inflow control in the practical dewatering projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]