Abstract:To address the issues of insufficient accuracy and high prediction costs faced by conventional methods in characterizing the heterogeneity of groundwater aquifers, this study proposed a physicsnformed deep learning algorithm—the DL-ERT model—based on numerical simulations and laboratory sandbox experiments. The model integrated the powerful data learning capability of a convolutional gated recurrent unit (CNN-GRU) optimized by residual networks with the advantage of physical prior information from electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). The DL-ERT model was compared with multiple traditional inversion models to examine the accuracy of the fusion algorithm in characterizing the permeability coefficient of groundwater aquifers. The results showed that: (1) the training and validation losses of the DL-ERT model rapidly decreased and approached zero, and their convergence was almost synchronous, indicating that the construction strategy of the DL-ERT model was excellent and that data features could be quickly and effectively learned. (2) Taking a sample from the test set as an example, the inversion cloud maps of the permeability coefficient obtained by ERT, CNNGRU, and DL-ERT were compared. It was found that individual algorithm models could not simultaneously capture the high-permeability zones on both sides, while DL-ERT demonstrated remarkable predictive potential for high-permeability zones, achieving a fitting accuracy of 0.906. (3) Laboratory sandbox experiments were conducted, and the fusion algorithm was compared with traditional Kriging interpolation, CNN-GRU, and ERT, yielding fitting accuracies of 0.895, 0.707, 0.760, and 0.836, respectively. It is evident that the DL-ERT model compensates for the limitations of individual algorithms to some extent, with prediction accuracy improved by 7%-17% compared with the individual CNN-GRU and ERT models, indicating the potential of the model for engineering applications.