Consolidation and subsidence

Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

A coupled model of anthropogenic Venice uplift

A. Comerlati, M. Ferronato, G. Gambolati, M. Putti & P. Teatini

Dept. of Mathematical Methods and Models for Scientific Applications, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

ABSTRACT: A coupled (Biot) three-dimensional finite element model is developed to predict the anthro-
pogenic Venice uplift induced by seawater injection into a 600800 m deep brackish aquifer underlying the
Venice Lagoon. After 10 years of water pumping an uplift of about 30 cm is predicted with an injection rate of
about 17 Mm3 /year and a maximum overpressure of 18 bars. The results turn out to be very similar to those
obtained with an uncoupled formulation after a few years from the beginning of the injection. At the end of
the simulation the uncoupled approach estimates the uplift 2% and 3% in excess relative to the coupled one at
Venice and over the injection wells, respectively, i.e. a small amount on consideration of the influence exerted
by the typical uncertainties that characterize the geological reconstruction and the parameter values of any real
subsurface basin.

1 INTRODUCTION prediction of anthropogenicVenice uplift due to seawa-

Anthropogenic Venice uplift due to fluid injection can
be simulated by making use of either an uncoupled or
a coupled approach. The former is traditionally fol-
lowed by hydrogeologists while the latter is advocated
by geomechanicians with, however, a few noticeable
exceptions in both areas (e.g. Schiffman et al. 1969,
Hsieh 1996, Chin & Nagel 2004). The selection of
the most suitable model rests ultimately with the
problem to be solved taking into account the com-
putational cost as well. In a number of applications
both approaches provide similar results implying that
coupling addressed in lumped form by the fluid flow
equation is sufficiently accurate for practical purposes.
In such cases the uncoupled formulation may be pre-
ferred on the grounds of both a lower computational
cost and a saving of computer memory that allows
for a more refined representation of complex geologi-
cal litho-stratigraphies. Also the risk of instability for
very small time integration steps in coupled formula-
tions should not be overlooked (Ferronato et al. 2001).
It has recently been shown (Gambolati et al. 2000)
that in realistic geological scenarios of land subsidence
caused by fluid pumping the uncoupled approach can
be quite safely used, at least in the frequent case of
a normally consolidated and pressurized sedimentary
basin made of a sequence of alternating aquifers and
aquitards.
The present communication addresses the rele-
vance of coupling in a similar geological structure,
i.e. the basin underlying the Venice Lagoon, when,
however, water is injected rather than withdrawn. This
is in connection with the recent uncoupled numerical
ter injection into a 600800 m deep brackish formation
below the lagoon contributed by Comerlati et al. (2003,
2004) with the aim at mitigating the recurrent periodic
flooding of the city.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the
importance that complete coupling between fluid flow
and porous matrix stress may have on modeling the
anthropogenic Venice rise. The geology is the same
as used by Comerlati et al. (2003), i.e. a full three-
dimensional (3-D) setting based on a realistic rep-
resentation of the Northern Adriatic basin to which
the lagoon subsurface belongs. After a brief descrip-
tion of the model set-up, the coupled prediction of
Venice uplift over a 10-year time interval is presented
and compared for validation to that obtained with the
uncoupled approach (Comerlati et al. 2003). A final
remark on the relevance of coupling for the simulation
of the anthropogenic Venice uplift closes the paper.
2 COUPLED MODEL OF LAND UPLIFT DUE
TO SEAWATER INJECTION
2.1 Basic equations
The first coupled finite element model of anthro-
pogenic land subsidence is perhaps the one presented
by Sandhu & Wilson (1969) at the 1st International
Symposium on Land Subsidence. Since the main pur-
pose of the present communication is to investigate the
relevance of coupling in a seawater injection project, a
linear analysis where the porous medium hydrological
and geomechanical properties are stress independent

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
suffices. The linear coupled model used in the present
study relies on the following equations (Ferronato
et al. 2002):

where is the Lam constant and G the shear mod-

ulus of the porous medium, is the volume strain,
the gradient operator, and the water specific
weight and volumetric compressibility, respectively, k
the hydraulic conductivity, the porosity, and p and
ui the incremental pore pressure (positive in our case)
and displacement along the i-direction, respectively.
The time derivative /t is the term coupling flow and
medium displacement, i.e. the flow and stress fields,
and gives rise to the uncoupled formulation when it is
set equal to cM p/t, with cM the vertical rock com-
pressibility (Gambolati et al. 2000). We notice that
much effort has recently been made by the authors to
improve the stability and efficiency, and hence reduce Figure 1. Plane view of the Venice Lagoon with the location
the computational cost, of a fully coupled numerical of the injection wells.
formulation (Ferronato et al. 2001, Gambolati et al.
2001, 2002, 2003), thus making it possible to use a
coupled poroelastic model over a complex large scale
realistic application.

2.2 Model set-up

The lagoon subsurface down to a 5000 m depth is
discretized into tetrahedral finite elements. The areal
extent of the model is shown in Figure 1 which also
gives the location of 12 injection wells encompass-
ing Venice. The injected formation is a sandy brackish
aquifer lying between 600 and 800 m depth below the
lagoon, as can be seen in Figure 2 where the 3-D mesh
discretizing the aquifer unit is evidenced within the
overall porous volume. The thickness of the formation
is not uniform with top and bottom not exactly hor-
izontal. The unit is computationally subdivided into
10 sub-layers and injection takes place evenly from
each well intake. The aquifer is overlain and underlain
by a sequence of alternating sandy and clayey layers,
as described in previous studies on the lagoon (Gatto
& Mozzi 1971, Gambolati et al. 1974) and used by
Comerlati et al. (2003). Boundary conditions prescribe
zero potential at the ground surface (Ba et al. 2004),
hydrostatic pressure on the lateral boundaries and no
flux from the model basement. The total injection
rate, uniformly distributed among 12 wells, is approx-
imately 17 Mm3 /year over a 10-year time interval to
achieve a maximum overpressure of 18 bars. This lim-
iting value should be safe enough to avoid fractures in
the porous medium.
Figure 2. 3-D finite element discretization of the injected
sandy formation. The vertical exaggeration is 20.
Permeability, porosity, and the Poisson ratio are the
same as those used by Comerlati et al. (2003), while
the vertical rock compressibility is based on the consti-
tutive law developed by Ba et al. (2002) and modified
by Comerlati et al. (2004). Within the injected forma-
tion the unloading mechanical properties are used, i.e.
the initial compressibility divided by 3.5 (Ferronato
et al. 2003, Comerlati et al. 2003). It should be noted
that the uncoupled results thus obtained turn out to be
slightly different from those of Comerlati et al. (2003)
because of the linearity of the present model approach.
This does not detract in any case from the validity of
the conclusions that follow.

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Figure 3. Predicted overpressure (bar) along the vertical north-south cross-section passing through Venice shown in Figure
1, after 5 years (a) and 10 years (b) of seawater injection using the coupled and uncoupled model. The profile of the injected
formation is highlighted.

Figure 4. Predicted uplift (cm) of the Venice Lagoon 5 years (a) and 10 years (b) after the beginning of the seawater injection
using the uncoupled model.

2.3 Coupled prediction of anthropogenic
Venice uplift
The results of the coupled prediction of anthropogenic
Venice uplift are validated against the outcome of the
uncoupled model used by Comerlati et al. (2003). Fig-
ure 3 shows the coupled and uncoupled pore pressure
variations in a vertical cross-section of the injected
formation after 5 years (Figure 3a) and 10 years
(Figure 3b) of seawater injection. The iso-lines prac-
tically overlap in the injected formation with no sig-
nificant difference in both magnitude and distribution.
The only appreciable difference, as expected from the
well-known coupling effects (Verruijt 1969, Hsieh
1996, Gambolati et al. 2000, Ferronato et al. 2004),
is the reverse pore pressure fluctuation experienced
by the clay formation, called Santerno clays, under-
lying the aquifer. This occurrence is the opposite of
the Noordbergum effect (Verruijt 1969) and has been
termed Rhade effect (Langguth & Treskatis 1989).
The persistence of such a transient effect still after
10 years from the beginning of the injection is due
to both the large thickness (about 200 m) and the low

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Figure 5. The same as Figure 4 using the coupled model.
Figure 6. Difference between the uplift (cm) predicted with the coupled and uncoupled model after 5 years (a) and 10 years
(b) of seawater injection.
permeability of the Santerno clays (Teatini et al. 2000),
which can be found almost everywhere throughout the
Po River and the Northern Adriatic basins. However,
the Rhade effect has practically a very little influence
on the anthropogenic upheaval of the Venice area 5 and
10 years after the inception of the injection as shown
in Figures 4 and 5, respectively. The predicted ground
uplift turns out to be about 30 cm in the Venice area
and is substantially the same as the one provided by
the uncoupled formulation, with the difference (Fig. 6)
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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
ranging in the order of a few percent, i.e. less than
2% and 3% after 10 years at Venice and over the
injection wells, respectively. This is an amount that is
easily offset by the influence of the uncertainties which
very likely affect the parameter values of the recon-
structed geological structure. It is worth noticing that
the coupled prediction is smaller than the uncoupled
one consistent with the reverse water level fluctuation
(pore pressure decrease) which occurs in the adjacent
aquitards (and possibly also in the overlying unpumped
aquifers, although at a much lesser extent) for some
time after the beginning of the injection.
3 CONCLUSIONS
A coupled prediction of anthropogenic Venice uplift
caused by deep seawater injection is performed and
compared for validation to an uncoupled one. The
injected formation, basin geology, boundary condi-
tions and parameter values are the same as the ones
used by Comerlati et al. (2003).
The simulation is run over a 10 year time interval,
i.e. the time required to raise Venice by 30 cm, namely
a value of great practical interest. The results indicate
that the overpressure distribution within the injected
aquifer is substantially insensitive to coupling. A small
difference on the order of 2%3% turns out in the
expected uplift, an amount that, however, may be eas-
ily overshadowed by the inevitable uncertainties that
affect the geological reconstruction and finite element
discretization of the complex Venice subsurface basin.
Hence it is concluded that the uncoupled approach to
predict the anthropogenic Venice uplift is fully war-
ranted and can be safely relied upon on any practical
time basis. Moreover, it is to be generally preferred
to the coupled approach on the grounds of its lower
computational cost, unconditional numerical stability
and the possibility of a more refined representation of
the basin geology and litho-stratigraphy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study has been partially funded by the Italian
MURST project Numerical Methods and Algorithms
for Environmental Modeling.
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