Surface TEM Response Mechanism and Characteristics of Fault Fracture Zones in Shallow Metro Tunnels

To mitigate safety risks such as tunnel collapse and water inrush induced by fault fracture zones during urban shield tunneling, this study investigates the application mechanisms and identification characteristics of the surface transient electromagnetic (TEM) method for ahead-of-face geological prediction, using a shallow metro tunnel (30–50 m burial depth) in Qingdao as a case study. Departing from conventional empirical threshold approaches, a three-dimensional geological model incorporating a fault fracture zone is constructed. Guided by electromagnetic diffusion theory, the transient field response evolution is numerically simulated to obtain time-domain electromagnetic decay curves at various observation points. By integrating these simulations with field measurements, quantitative criteria for fault identification are extracted. The results demonstrate that the electric field response attenuation rate at measurement points directly overlying the fault fracture zone is significantly faster than that in the intact host rock. This accelerated decay behavior is jointly governed by the fault scale, degree of water saturation in the fracture zone, and source–receiver offset, serving as a primary indicator for fault identification. In the apparent resistivity profiles, the fault-intersecting zones exhibit distinct abrupt transitions between low and high resistivity. The water-saturated fracture zone manifests as a well-defined low-resistivity anomaly, generating a pronounced electrical contrast with the high-resistivity host rock. Field validation confirms that the identified low-resistivity anomaly aligns closely with the actual location of the water-bearing fault, which was subsequently verified during tunnel excavation. This study elucidates the physical mechanism of electromagnetic diffusion distortion induced by faults under shallow urban conditions. The proposed integrated criterion, combining the response attenuation rate with abrupt apparent resistivity boundaries, effectively mitigates the non-uniqueness inherent in single-parameter geophysical interpretations. These findings provide theoretical support and a reproducible engineering criterion for ahead-of-face fault prediction in metro tunnels. Future research should further incorporate the effects of geological anisotropy and dynamic groundwater seepage on the electromagnetic diffusion process.