Water inrush is one of the crucial risks encountered by engineers in mining practices. An effective risk assessment of water inrush in a mining excavation requires thorough investigation and understanding of the hydrogeological properties of the host rock mass, in which, the feature (position, volume, etc.) of water-bearing rock structure is a key issue. Since the temperatures of groundwater and surrounding rock masses are usually different from each other, the temperature difference may serve as an indicator for investigating the properties of water-bearing rock mass, and to assess the risk of water inrush during mining. In this study, the temperature variation behavior of a rock mass containing a water-bearing structure during a mining process was investigated through a laboratory model test. The monitoring system consists of a set of Fiber Brag Grating (FBG) temperature sensors and multi-point displacement meters. Experimental results indicate that the variation of the seepage intensity during the mining excavation can be effectively monitored by Pe (Peclet number), which exhibits close relations with the temperature field of rock mass, as well as the instability of rock mass structure induced by the water inrush.
