Abstract: With the increasing demand for groundwater detection accuracy in foundation pit engineering, the direct current resistivity (DCR) method has attracted widespread attention for its application potential in groundwater detection. This study investigated the application potential of the DCR method through numerical simulations. A two-layer structure model was constructed to analyze the impacts of the groundwater level depth on electrode response and the relationship between the number of electrodes and the detection range. The results indicate that a significant exponential relationship was observed between the extreme voltage values obtained from electrode detection and the groundwater level depth, demonstrating the potential of the DCR method in detecting the groundwater level depth. However, the increasing groundwater level depth led to intensified signal attenuation and noise interference, limiting the detection depth of the DCR method. Additionally, simply increasing the number of electrodes could not broaden the detection range effectively. Instead, it is necessary to enhance the imaging capability of the DCR method by changing the electric field distribution. Overall, this study provides a theoretical basis for the application of the DCR method in groundwater detection while presenting the challenges in practical applications.