Papers by Author: Hong Pan

Abstract: The soil over the bedrock in the city of Guangzhou is thin, with a depth of only about 11 m. Under such conditions, excessive exploitation of the underground space is very likely to affect the groundwater environment. In this paper, the impact of intensive underground structures, which act as barriers, on the groundwater flow in Guangzhou is investigated. The emphasis is on the impacts in terms of hydraulic head, Darcy velocity and groundwater balance. The study finds that: (1) Under the current underground structure density, the impact on the hydraulic head is small, and most of the change is in the range of ±0.5 m. (2) The Darcy velocity appears to be more susceptible to being affected by the structures. (3) The barrier effect of the intensive structures increases the overflow at the foot of the hills and reduces the transmissivity of the aquifer.