• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.3 s.56
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• pp.169-176
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• 2005

The decreasing pattern of underground temperature measured at 'Gonjiam cold storage cavern' during 7 years which was the first commercial scale underground food storage cavern in Korea was analyzed. The variation of energy consumption was discussed by comparing the consumed energy at the initial operation stage with that at later stage, when the temperature distribution reached a stabilized condition. The point to be considered at the design stage was also discussed by comparing the required refrigerator capacity at the initial operation stage with that at later stage. The extra energy to freeze the groundwater contained in pore space was discussed by analyzing the changing pattern of the rock temperature. The variation of measured rock temperature was compared with the estimated temperature using a numerical code, FLAC. The accuracy of the numerical estimation was discussed by comparing the heat flux measured by the operation time of the refrigerator with that estimated numerically.