Analytical solution for steady seepage and groundwater inflow into an underwater tunnel

Solutions of the water pressure and groundwater inflow distribution along the tunnel perimeter in a half-infinite aquifer were investigated considering the conditions of the constant head and constant water pressure. It is assumed that the circular tunnel is buried in a fully saturated, homogeneous, isotropic and half-infinite space. Coordinate transformation technique was adopted, the problem of solving the control equations of water pressure in the Cartesian coordinate was transformed to that in the bipolar coordinate system, which can significantly simplify the derivation procedure of the water pressure and inflow distribution. The validation results show the accuracy and advantage of the proposed approach.