Developing an Adequate Approach to Model the Geotechnical Parameters for Reducing the Ventures of Underground City Development

Abstract

Understanding of geotechnical properties of different rock units in the underground is critical to the city development, since these properties decide the types of foundation for the infrastructure. While increasing three-dimensional geological models with diverse scales and depths have been carried out by the geological surveys in the city region, the approaches to develop high resolution geotechnical models should be improved. In this paper, a new approach is elaborated and its capability is illustrated by a case study. The base of the approach is a volumetric geological model consisting of elements. 3-D geostatistical analysis plays major roles in the new approach: evaluating the characteristics of the geotechnical data from field investigation, quantifying the variability and spatial structure of the properties in the modelling area, and predicting the distribution of geotechnical parameters in the 3-D space. The achievement of this approach is a cell-based 3-D geotechnical model with discrete values.