Water Circulation in Rocks

About this book

Understanding water circulation in rocks represents a very important element to solving many of the problems linked with civil, environmental and mining engineering.

This book offers a synthesis of the actual knowledge about the fluid flow in rocks: from the medium characterization and the structural geological survey to the generation of stereonets; the evaluation of the hydrogeological parameters using either deterministic or probabilistic methodologies; the evaluation of the preferential flow direction considering the change of the hydrogeological structures; and, the methods and models used to simulate the flows. Three case-studies are provided: water circulation and slope instability, hydrogeological risk linked with tunnelling, and hydrogeological risk linked with road construction.

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to Water Circulation in Rocks. General Observations. Origin of Discontinuities. Features of Discontinuities. Graphical Presentation of Discontinuities. Discontinuities Distribution.
Chapter 2: Permeability Calculation. Introduction. Deterministic Methodologies. Probabilistic Methodologies: the Percolation Theory. In Situ Tests.
Chapter 3: Influence of Joint Features on Rock Mass Permeability. Introduction. Influence of Joint Roughness. Influence of Joint Aperture. Influence of Joints Spacing and Frequency. Joints Interconnection.
Chapter 4: Fluid Flow in Rocks. Introduction. Anisotropy of the Fractured Medium. Main Flow Direction in Fractured Media. Non-Saturated Medium. Non-Saturated Medium : Preferential Flow Direction with an Waterproofing Level. Saturated Medium.
Chapter 5: Methods and Model to Simulate Hydraulic Flow in Rocks. Introduction. Basic Elements of a Modelling Approach. Darcy's Model.
Chapter 6: Case Histories. Groundwater Flow and Slope Instability. Evaluation of the Hydrogeological Risk Linked with Tunnelling. Hydrogeological Risk Linked with the Road Construction.

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Biography

Laura Scesi is Professor of Applied Geology at the Polytechnic University of Milan. She published about 70 papers and 4 books on protection and optimization of natural resources, technical, geological and hydrogeological investigations for projects, hydraulic circulation in rocks, landslides and risk analysis, underground excavations.
Paola Gattinoni is Researcher in Applied Geology at the Polytechnic University of Milan. She authored about 40 papers on landslides and groundwater modelling, geological, technical and statistical analysis for hydrogeological setting and rock mass characterization, geological and hydrogeological risk assessment, water circulation in fractured rocks.