• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.91-104
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• 2008

In tunnels, safety factor concept has been suggested to estimate their stability quantitatively. It is merely limited in the framework of mechanical analysis. However safety factor concept has not been applied in hydro-mechanical coupled analyses due to their modelling complexity. Recently studies on this topic are being actively made. In this study, induced drainage modelling methods for hydro-mechanical coupled analyses are compared and analyzed to estimate safety factor of a subsea tunnel exactly. To this end, methods both controlling hydraulic characteristic of shotcrete and using a drainage well are considered. Sensitivity analysis were carried out on rock class, thickness of shotcrete, and hydraulic properties of rock mass. As the results of this study, it turned out that the induced drainage modelling using a drainage well would give more reliable results than that of controlling hydraulic characteristic of shotcrete in estimating tunnel stability in hydro-mechanical coupled analyses.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.144-159
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• 2022

The present study developed a sequential approach-based numerical simulator for modeling coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical (THM) processes in the ground and investigated the computational performance of the coupling analysis algorithm. The present sequential approach linked the two different solvers: an open-source numerical code, OpenGeoSys for solving the thermal and hydrological processes in porous media and a commercial code, FLAC3D for solving the geomechanical response of the ground. A benchmark test of the developed simulator was carried out using a THM problem where an analytical solution is given. The benchmark problem involves the coupled behavior (variations in temperature, pore pressure, stress, and deformation with time) of a fully saturated porous medium which is subject to a point heat source. The results of the analytical solution and numerical simulation were compared and the validity of the numerical simulator was investigated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.265-280
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• 2023

Water leakage in tunnels is a defect that can affect tunnel stability and the ground movement by changing the stress and pore water pressure of the surrounding ground. Long-term or large-scale water leaks may lead to damage of tunnel structure and the surrounding environment, such as tunnel lining instability and ground surface settlement. The present study numerically investigated the effects of water leakage on the structural stability of a tunnel and the ground behavior. The tunnel was assumed to be under undrained conditions for preventing the inflow of the surrounding water and leaks occurred in the concrete lining after completion of the tunnel construction. A coupled hydro-mechanical analysis using a TOUGH-FLAC simulator developed in Python was conducted for assessing the leakage induced-behavior of the tunnel structure and ground under different conditions of the amount and location of water leak. Additionally, the effect of hydro-mechanical coupling terms on the results of coupled response was investigated and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.137-146
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• 2007

해저 지하 구조물을 시공할 경우는 높은 수압 및 침투압 등의 영향이 무시될 수 없으므로 지하저장 공동의 정확한 거동평가를 위해서는 수리-역학적 해석이 수행되어야만 한다. 또한, 실무에서는 암반이완하중을 고려하여 터널의 콘크리트 라이닝을 설계하며, 이를 위해 이완하중고를 터널 주변의 국부안전율 분포를 이용하여 수치해석에 의해 산정하는 방법이 제안된바 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 해저터널을 대상으로 수리-역학적 연계해석 시 국부안전율을 이용한 이완하중고 산정 기법의 타당성을 살펴보았다. 이를 위해 3등급 암반을 대상으로 숏크리트 수리특성을 이용한 유도배수방법과 집수정의 펌핑을 이용한 유도배수방법을 이용하여 이완하중고를 산정하고 적용성을 비교하였다. 연구 결과 연계해석 시 해저시설물의 안전율 및 이완하중고를 정확하게 산정하기 위해서는 집수정의 펌핑을 이용하여 유도배수하는 모델링 방법이 보다 정확하고 일관성 있는 결과를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.66-81
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• 2011

In this study, it was aimed to develop a thermal-hydraulic-mechanical coupled fracture mechanics code that models a fracture initiation, propagation and failure of underground rock mass due to thermal and hydraulic loadings. The development was based on a 2D FRACOD (Shen & Stephasson, 1993), and newly developed T-M and H-M coupled analysis modules were implemented into it. T-M coupling in FRACOD employed a fictitious heat source and time-marching method, and explicit iteration method was used in H-M coupling. The validity of developed coupled modules was verified by the comparison with the analytical result, and its applicability to the fracture initiation and propagation behavior due to temperature changes and hydraulic fracturing was confirmed by test simulations.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.335-358
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• 2020

We present a numerical model to simulate coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of fault using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. This study aims to develop a numerical method to estimate fluid injection-induced fault reactivation in low permeability rock and to access the relevant hydro-mechanical stability in rock as part of DECOVALEX-2019 Task B. A coupled fluid flow and mechanical interface model to explicitly represent a fault was suggested and validated from the applications to benchmark simulations and the field experiment at Mont Terri underground laboratory in Switzerland. The pressure build-up, hydraulic aperture evolution, displacement, and stress responses matched those obtained at the site, which indicates the capability of the model to appropriately capture the hydro-mechanical processes in rock fault.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.166-180
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• 2016

The present study numerically simulated the CO2 injection into the saline aquifer of CO2CRC Otway pilot project and the resulting hydrological-mechanical coupled process in the storage site by TOUGH-FLAC simulator. A three-dimensional numerical model was generated using the stochastic geological model which was established based on well log and core data. It was estimated that the CO2 injection of 30,000t over a period of 200 days increased the pressure near the injection point by 0.5 MPa at the most. The pressure increased rapidly and tended to approach a certain value at an early stage of the injection. The hydrological and mechanical behavior observed from the CO2 flow, effective stress change and stress-strength ratio revealed that the CO2 injection into the saline aquifer under the given condition would not have significant effects on the mechanical safety of the storage site and the hydrological state around the adjacent fault.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.377-389
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• 2008

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2008

Excessive amount of groundwater flowed into tunnel, while constructing Incheon international airport railway. Tunnel passes under subway line no. 2 with only 1.76 m below. To protect the existing structure, TRcM excavation method was applied. As station and construction shaft are already constructed, which are located back and forth of TRcM section, 86.4 ton per day of groundwater inflow is against expectation. To identify mechanism of excessive water inflow, hydraulic back analyses were performed. Then, hydro-mechanical coupled analysis were also performed with the hydrogeologic parameters identified, whose results are investigated for checking the stability of adjacent structures to the tunnel under construction. And a number of mechanical analyses were also performed to check the hydro-mechanical coupling effect. The result from the mechanical analysis shows that subsidence and tunnel ceiling displacement will be 0.85 mm and 1.32 mm. The result of hydro-mechanical couple analysis shows that subsidence and maximum tunnel ceiling displacement will be 1.2 mm and 1.72 mm. Additional displacements caused by groundwater draw down were identified, however, displacement is minute.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 2023

In this study, we simulated induced seismicity in the Groningen natural gas reservoir using 2D hydro-mechanical coupled discrete element modelling (DEM). The code used is PFC2D (Particle Flow Code 2D), a commercial software developed by Itasca, and in order to apply to this study we further developed 1)initialization of inhomogeneous reservoir pressure distribution, 2)a non-linear pressure-time history boundary condition, 3)local stress field monitoring logic. We generated a 2D reservoir model with a size of 40 × 50 km² and a complex fault system, and simulated years of pressure depletion with a time range between 1960 and 2020. We simulated fault system failure induced by pressure depletion and reproduced the spatiotemporal distribution of induced seismicity and assessed its failure mechanism. Also, we estimated the ground subsidence distribution and confirmed its similarity to the field measurements in the Groningen region. Through this study, we confirm the feasibility of the presented 2D hydro-mechanical coupled DEM in simulating the deformation of a complex fault system by hydro-mechanical coupled processes.