• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.169-179
• /
• 2013

Well testing in unconventional reservoirs, such as tight or shale gas formations, presents considerable challenges. It is difficult to estimate the reservoir properties in ultra-low permeability formation because of poor inflow prior to stimulation and excessive test duration. Moreover, radial flow may not develop in hydraulically fractured horizontal wells. For these reasons, the cost of test is high and the accuracy is relatively low. Accordingly, industry is turning to an alternate testing method, diagnostic fracture injection test (DFIT), which is conducted prior to the main hydraulic fracture treatments. Nowadays, DFIT are regarded as the most practical way to obtain good estimates of reservoir properties in unconventional reservoirs. Various methods may be used for interpreting DFIT data. This paper gives an explanation of those methods in detail and examines three actual field data. These show how various analysis methods can be applied to consistently interpret fracture closure pressure and time, as well as before and after closure flow regimes and reservoir properties from field data.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.292-304
• /
• 2019

Limestone joint surfaces with smooth roughness were experimented by means of both the individual direct shear tests based on the KSRM standard test method and the multi-stage direct shear test to apply the stepwise vertical stresses. Changes in the roughness of the joint surfaces before and after the shear tests were examined and the difference between the two kinds of tests mentioned above was analyzed. In both tests, the shear resistance increased as the joint roughness increased and the maximum shear stress required for shearing the joint surface increased as the vertical stress increased. The peak friction angle obtained by the multi-stage direct shear tests was only 63% of that obtained by the individual direct shear tests. In the multi-stage direct shear test, the initial engagement of the concave-convex parts changes frequently during stepwise shearing process, which deforms the original roughness of a joint surface. Accordingly, the individual direct shear test is thought to be more effective when obtaining the friction angle of the rock joint surfaces. Limestone joint surfaces with smooth roughness of JRC value 4~8 were found to have peak friction angle of $47^{\circ}$, residual friction angle of $38^{\circ}$ and cohesion of 37 kPa.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.332-345
• /
• 2019

Maximum dip vector of individual joint plane, which can be uniquely defined on the hemispherical projection plane, has been established by considering its dip and dip direction. A new stereographic projection method for the rock slope analysis which employs the maximum dip vector can intuitively predict the failure modes of rock slope. Since the maximum dip vector is uniquely projected on the maximum dip point of the great circle, the sliding direction of discontinuity plane can be recognized directly. By utilizing the maximum dip vector of discontinuity both the plane sliding and toppling directions of corresponding blocks can be discerned intuitively. Especially, by allocating the area of high dip maximum dip vector which can form the flanks of sliding block the potentiality for the formation of virtual sliding block has been estimated. Also, the potentiality of forming the triangular-sectioned sliding block has been determined by considering the dip angle of joint plane the dip direction of which is nearly opposite to that of the slope face. Safety factors of the different-shaped blocks of triangular section has been estimated and compared to the safety factor of the most hazardous block of rectangular section. For the wedge analysis the direction of crossline of two intersecting joint planes, which has same attribute of the maximum dip vector, is used so that wedge failures zone can be superimposed on the stereographic projection surface in which plane and toppling failure areas are already lineated. In addition the maximum dip vector zone of wedge top face has been delineated to extract the wedge top face-forming joint planes the orientation of which provides the vital information for the analysis of mechanical behavior of wedge block.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.197-213
• /
• 2019

We simulated the fault reactivation experiment conducted at 'Main Fault' intersecting the low permeability clay formations of Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory in Switzerland using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. The fluid flow along a fault was modelled with solid elements and governed by Darcy's law with the cubic law in TOUGH2, whereas the mechanical behavior of a single fault was represented by creating interface elements between two separating rock blocks in FLAC3D. We formulate the hydro-mechanical coupling relation of hydraulic aperture to consider the elastic fracture opening and failure-induced dilation for reproducing the abrupt changes in injection flow rate and monitoring pressure at fracture opening pressure. A parametric study was conducted to examine the effects of in-situ stress condition and fault deformation and strength parameters and to find the optimal parameter set to reproduce the field observations. In the best matching simulation, the fracture opening pressure and variations of injection flow rate and monitoring pressure showed good agreement with field experiment results, which suggests the capability of the numerical model to reasonably capture the fracture opening and propagation process. The model overestimated the fault displacement in shear direction and the range of reactivated zone, which was attributed to the progressive shear failures along the fault at high injection pressure. In the field experiment results, however, fracture tensile opening seems the dominant mechanism affecting the hydraulic aperture increase.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.184-196
• /
• 2019

This study aims to extract a 3D image of micro-cracks generated by hydraulic fracturing tests, using the deep learning method and X-ray computed tomography images. The pixel-level cracks are difficult to be detected via conventional image processing methods, such as global thresholding, canny edge detection, and the region growing method. Thus, the convolutional neural network-based encoder-decoder network is adapted to extract and analyze the micro-crack quantitatively. The number of training data can be acquired by dividing, rotating, and flipping images and the optimum combination for the image augmentation method is verified. Application of the optimal image augmentation method shows enhanced performance for not only the validation dataset but also the test dataset. In addition, the influence of the original number of training data to the performance of the deep learning-based neural network is confirmed, and it leads to succeed the pixel-level crack detection.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.584-595
• /
• 2018

This study conducted direct shear test on about 290 sorts of materials such as sandy soil, clayey soil and gravely soil to present proper standard on shear strength of soil. Shear strength of soil in large scale tends to show that angle of internal friction increases as sand contents grow and it ranges $23.5^{\circ}{\sim}34.9^{\circ}C$ with cohesion of 2.0 kPa~15.7 kPa. Elastic modulus was visibly distinct by load, and which increased approximately 80% as vertical load grows. Angle of internal friction arranging $15.0^{\circ}{\sim}28.6^{\circ}$ on clayey soil decreased as clay contents rises and cohesion increase in regular scale. Elastic modulus tends to increase initial elastic modulus with almost same growing rate. While angle of internal friction on gravely soil indicates $29.9^{\circ}{\sim}36.7^{\circ}$ which hardly shows distinctive features. According to test in detail, cohesion of SW (well-graded sand), SP (poorly-graded sand), SC (clayey sand) and SM (silty sand) indicates value by 94%, 78% and 59% comparing to SC, SW and SP respectively. Angle of internal friction of ML (low-liquid limit silt) and CL (low-liquid limit clay) appears almost same features, and MH (high-liquid limit silt) despite of 88% value of ML. Cohesion among them varies with similar growing rate.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.609-619
• /
• 2018

This study was carried out at a local limestone mine to analyze the ventilation efficiency of the shaft equipped with a main fan. The results show that its ventilation efficiency is clearly verified for the natural as well as the mechanical ventilation. The airflow rate of $11.7m^3/s$ was induced by the natural ventilation force and the maximum quantity is almost same as the airflow rate estimated by monitoring the average temperatures in the upcast and downcast air columns. Meanwhile, the airflow rate exhausted by the main fan through the shaft was $20.3{\sim}24.8m^3/s$; variation of the quantity was caused by the upward shift of the mine ventilation characteristic curve due to the frequent movement of the equipment. This indicates efforts are required to reduce the ventilation resistance and raise the quantity supplied by the main fan. The turbulent diffusion coefficients along the 1912 m long airway from the portal to the shaft bottom was estimated to be $15m^2/s$ and $18m^2/s$. Since these higher coefficients imply that contaminants will be dispersed at a faster velocity than the airflow, prompt exhaust method should be planned for the effective air quality control. The ventilation shaft and main fan are definitely what local limestone mines inevitably need for better working environment and sustainable development.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.635-650
• /
• 2018

Many people have been recognized that the Korean Peninsula is no longer safe area from the earthquake by the recent earthquakes occurred in the country. The earthquakes that occurred at Pohang and Gyeongju appeared differently from them considered in the seismic design and researches on the seismic design method have been also conducted by many researchers. Studies on seismic loads are mainly focused on existing superstructures, and research involving them has been actively carried out in reality. However, paper regarding structural stability of reinforcement from seismic load such as soil-nails, rock-bolts, ground anchors which were constructed to ensure stability of serviced structure have been published rarely. In this study, ground anchor been effected by static load and seismic load which is settled in the weathered rock is analyzed. Results for static load are obtained from field test and seismic load is from numerical analysis. In this study, the behavioral characteristics of the ground anchor were analyzed by numerical analysis in case of seismic loading based on the result of the in-situ tensile test of the ground anchor settled weathered rock. As a result, settlement of concrete block due to application of tension force for ground anchor occurred as well as following loss of axial force for ground anchor. Also, as bond length and period of seismic load are longer, increasement of displacement is greater.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.262-279
• /
• 2019

In the engineering barriers of high-level radioactive waste disposal, gases could be generated through a number of processes. If the gas production rate exceeds the gas diffusion rate, the pressure of the gas increases and gases could migrate through the bentonite buffer. Because people and the environment can be exposed to radioactivity, it is very important to clarify gas migration in terms of long-term integrity of the engineered barrier system. In particular, it is necessary to identify the hydro-mechanical mechanism for the dilation flow, which is a very important gas flow phenomenon only in medium containing large amounts of clay materials such as bentonite buffer, and to develop and validate new numerical approach for the quantitative evaluation of the gas migration phenomenon. Therefore, in this study, we developed a two-phase flow model considering the mechanical damage model in order to simulate the gas migration in the engineered barrier system, and validated with 1D gas flow modelling through saturated bentonite under constant volume boundary conditions. As a result of numerical analysis, the rapid increase in pore water pressure, stress, and gas outflow could be simulated when the dilation flow was occurred.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.333-359
• /
• 2021

Gases such as hydrogen and radon can be generated around the canister in high-level radioactive waste disposal systems due to several reasons including the corrosion of metal materials. When the gas generation rate exceeds the gas diffusion rate in the low-permeability bentonite buffer, the gas phase will form and accumulate in the engineered barrier system. If the gas pressure exceeds the gas entry pressure, gas can migrate into the bentonite buffer, resulting in pathway dilation flow and advective flow. Because a sudden occurrence of dilation flow can cause radionuclide leakage out of the engineered barrier of the radioactive waste disposal system, it is necessary to understand the gas migration behavior in the bentonite buffer to quantitatively evaluate the long-term safety of the engineered barrier. Experimental research investigating the characteristics of gas migration in saturated bentonite and research developing numerical models capable of simulating such behaviors are being actively conducted worldwide. In this technical note, previous gas injection experiments and the numerical models proposed to verify such behaviors are introduced, and the future challenges necessary for the investigation of gas migration are summarized.