• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.149-163
• /
• 2021

Damage characteristics of granite, marble and sandstone whose properties were different were investigated by uniaxial compression test and cyclic loading-unloading test. Strength, elastic constants and damage threshold stresses were measured by uniaxial compression test and were compared with those measured by cyclic loading-unloading test. Average rock strengths measured by cyclic loading-unloading test were either lower than or similar with those measured by uniaxial compression test. Rocks with high strength and low porosity were more sensitive to fatigue than that with low strength and high porosity. Although permanent strains caused by cyclic loading-unloading were different according to rock types, they could be good indicators representing damage characteristics of rock. Damage threshold stress of granite and marble might be measured from stress-permanent strain curves. Acoustic emissions were measured during both tests and felicity ratios which represented damage characteristics of rocks were calculated. Felicity ratio of sandstone which was weak in strength and highly porous could not be calculated because of very few measurements of acoustic emissions. On the other hand, damage threshold could be predicted from felicity ratios of granite and marble which were brittle and low in porosity. The deformation behaviors and damage characteristics of rock mass could be investigated if additional tests for various rock types were performed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.95-107
• /
• 2023

In this study, the effect of repeated traffic vibration on the long-term stability of mine openings is analyzed for re-utilization of abandoned mine galleries. The research mine in this study is an underground limestone mine which is developed by room-and-pillar mining method, and a dynamic numerical analysis is performed assuming that the research mine will be utilized as a logistics warehouse. The actual traffic vibration generated by the mining vehicles is measured directly, and its waveform is used as input data for dynamic numerical analysis, As a results of dynamic numerical analysis, after 20,000 repetitions of traffic vibration, the mine openings is analyzed to be stable, but an increase in the maximum principal stress and an additional area of plastic zone are observed in the analysis section. As shown in the changes of displacement, volumetric strain, and maximum principal stress which are measured at the mine opening walls. It is confirmed that if the repeated traffic vibration is continuously applied, the instability of the mine openings can be increased. Authors expect that the results of this study can be used as a reference for basic study on utilization of abandoned mine.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.150-168
• /
• 2023

The anisotropic behavior of rocks is primarily attributed to the directional arrangement of rock-forming minerals and the distribution characteristics of microcracks. Notably, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks often exhibit distinct transverse isotropy in terms of their strength and deformation characteristics. Consequently, it is crucial to gain accurate insights into the deformation and failure characteristics of transversely isotropic rocks during rock mechanics design processes. The deformation of such rocks is described by five independent elastic constants, which are determined through laboratory testing. In this study, the characteristics of the directional variation of apparent elastic constants in transversely isotropic rocks were investigated using experimental data reported in the literature. To achieve this, the constitutive equation proposed by Mehrabadi & Cowin was introduced to calculate the apparent elastic constants more efficiently and systematically in a rotated Cartesian coordinate system. Four transversely isotropic rock types from the literature were selected, and the influence of changes in the orientation of the weak plane on the variations of the apparent elastic modulus, apparent shear modulus, and apparent Poisson's ratio was analyzed. Based on the investigation, a new constraint on the elastic constants has been proposed. If the proposed constraint is satisfied, the directional variation of the apparent elastic constants in transversely isotropic rocks aligns with intuitive predictions of their tendencies.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.25-39
• /
• 2015

$CO_2$ geological storage plays an important role in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but there is a lack of research for CCS demonstration. To achieve the goal of CCS, storing $CO_2$ safely and permanently in underground geological formations, it is essential to understand the characteristics of them, such as total storage capacity, stability, etc. and establish an injection strategy. We perform the impedance inversion for the seismic data acquired from the Ulleung Basin in 2012. To review the possibility of $CO_2$ storage, we also construct porosity models and extract attributes of the prospects from the seismic data. To improve the quality of seismic data, amplitude preserved processing methods, SWD(Shallow Water Demultiple), SRME(Surface Related Multiple Elimination) and Radon Demultiple, are applied. Three well log data are also analysed, and the log correlations of each well are 0.648, 0.574 and 0.342, respectively. All wells are used in building the low-frequency model to generate more robust initial model. Simultaneous pre-stack inversion is performed on all of the 2D profiles and inverted P-impedance, S-impedance and Vp/Vs ratio are generated from the inversion process. With the porosity profiles generated from the seismic inversion process, the porous and non-porous zones can be identified for the purpose of the $CO_2$ sequestration initiative. More detailed characterization of the geological storage and the simulation of $CO_2$ migration might be an essential for the CCS demonstration.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.357-367
• /
• 2018

Recent earthquakes in Gyeongju and Pohang have raised interest in liquefaction in South Korea. Liquefaction, which is a phenomenon that excessive pore pressure is generated and the shear strength of soil is decreased by repeated loads such as earthquakes, causes severe problems such as ground subsidence and overturning of structures. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and prepare for the possibility of liquefaction in advance. In general, the possibility of liquefaction is quantitatively assessed using the Liquefaction Potential Index (LPI), but it takes a lot of time and effort for performing site response analysis which is essential for the liquefaction evaluation. In this study, a simple method to evaluate the liquefaction potential without executing the site response analysis in a downtown area with a lot of borehole data was proposed. In this simple method, the correlation between the average shear wave velocity of the target location ground and the LPI divided by thickness of liquefiable layer was established. And the applicable correlation equation for various rock outcrop accelerations were derived. Using the 104 boreholes information in Seoul, the correlation equation between LPI and the shear wave velocity (ground water level: 0m, 1m, 2m, 3m) is obtained and the possibility of liquefaction occurrence in Seoul and Gyeongju is evaluated. The applicability of the proposed simple method was verified by comparing the LPI values calculated from the correlation equation and the LPI values derived using the existing site response analysis. Finally, the distribution map of LPI calculated from the correlation was drawn using Kriging, a geostatistical technique.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.668-682
• /
• 2017

Alignments of railways recently constructed in Korea have been straightened due to the advent of high-speed rail, which means increasing the numbers of tunnels and bridges. Overbreak during tunnel construction may be unavoidable, and is very influential on overall stability. Over-excavation in tunneling is also one of the most important factors in construction costs. Overbreak problems around crown areas have decreased with improvements of excavation methods, but overbreak problems around bottom areas have not decreased because those areas are not very influential on tunnel stability compared with crown areas. The filling costs of 10 cm thickness of overbreak at the bottom of a tunnel are covered under construction costs by Korea Railway Authority regulations, but filling costs for more than the covered thickness are considered losses of construction cost. The filling material for overbreak bottoms of tunnels should be concrete, but concrete and mixed granular materials with fractured rock are also used for some sites. Tunnels in which granular materials with fractured rock are used may have a discontinuous section under the concrete slab track. The discontinuous section influences the propagation of waves generated from train operation. When the bottom of a tunnel is filled with only concrete material, the bottom of the tunnel can be considered as a continuous section, in which the waves generated from a train may propagate without reflection waves. However, a discontinuous section filled with mixed granular materials may reflect waves, which can cause resonance of vibration. The filled materials and vibration propagation characteristics are studied in this research. Tunnel bottom filling materials that have ratios of granular material to concrete of 5.0 %, 11.5 %, and 18.0 % are investigated. Samples were made and tested to determine their material properties. Static numerical analyses were performed using the FEM program under train operation load; test results were found to satisfy the stability requirements. However, dynamic analysis results show that some mixed ratios may generate resonance vibration from train operation at certain speeds.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.327-351
• /
• 2009

Laboratory tests are performed in this paper to investigate the brittle failure characteristics of over-stressed rocks taken in deep depth. Also, numerical simulation performed using that the so-called CWFS(Cohesion Weakening Frictional Strengthening) model is known to predict brittle failure phenomenon reasonably well. The most typical rock types of Korean peninsula - granite and gneiss - were used for testing. Results of uniaxial compression tests showed that the crack initiation stress was about 41 % to 42% of the uniaxial compressive strength regardless of rock types, where as, the crack damage stress of granite was about 75%, and that of gneiss was about 97%. Through the damage-controlled test, strength parameters of each rock were obtained as a function of damage degree. After the peak, the crack damage stress and the maximum stress were decreased, The cohesion was decreased and the friction angle was increased with increase of rock damage. Before reaching the peak, the elastic modulus was slightly increased, while decreased after the peak. Poisson's ratio was increased as the damage of rock proceeds. Comparison of uniaxial compression tests and damage-controlled tests shows the crack initiation stress estimated from the damage-controlled test fluctuated within the range of crack initiation stress obtained from the uniaxial compression test; the crack damage stress was less than that estimated from the uniaxial compression test. In order to predict the critical depth that brittle failure occurs, numerical simulations using the CWFS model were performed for an example site. Material parameters obtained from the laboratory tests mentioned above were used for CWFS simulation. Comparison between the critical depth predicted from the numerical simulation using the CWFS model and that predicted by using the damage index proposed by Martin et al.(l999), showed that critical depth cannot be reasonably predicted by the currently used damage index except for circular tunnels. A modified damage index was proposed by the author which takes the shape of tunnels other than circular into account.