• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.357-366
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• 2021

Shear behavior dependent on the shape and roughness of rock joints can greatly influence the stability of the ground and rock structures. The efficient design of rock structures requires understanding of the shear behavior due to joints and accurate calculation of the shear strength. This work reports numerical shear tests using PFC2D on No. 1 (JCR-1), with smooth joints, and No. 7 (JRC-7) and No. 9 (JRC-9), with relatively rough joints, for the 10 shapes of standard joint profiles proposed by Barton and Choubey (1977). The aim was to investigate the shear behavior of rock joints with respect to their roughness. The results show the maximum shear stress to be about 3.2 to 5.0 times greater in the rougher JRC-7 and JRC-9 joints than in smoother JRC-1. The maximum shear displacement was approximately 4.1 to 5.8 times greater at the first normal stress than at the second. The rougher joints showed friction angles of the rock joints that were approximately 1.8 to 3.9 times greater than that in the smooth joint. Overall, increasing the rock joint roughness increased the maximum shear stress and friction angle.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.19-26
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• 2021

The high-level radioactive waste (HLW) produced from nuclear power plants is disposed in a rock-mass at a depth of hundreds meters below the ground level. Since HLW is very dangerous to human being, it must be disposed of safely by the engineered barrier system (EBS). The EBS consists of a disposal canister, backfill material, buffer material, and so on. When the components of EBS are installed, gaps inevitably exist not only between the rock-mass and buffer material but also between the canister and buffer material. The gap can reduce water-retarding capacity and heat release efficiency of the buffer material, so it is necessary to investigate properties of gap-filling materials and to analyze gap spacing effect. Furthermore, there has been few researches considering domestic disposal system compared to overseas researches. In this reason, this research derived the peak temperature of the bentonite buffer material considering domestic disposal system based on the numerical analysis. The gap between the canister and buffer material had a minor effect on the peak temperature of the bentonite buffer material, but there was 40% difference of the peak temperature of the bentonite buffer material because of the gap existence between the buffer material and rock mass.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.15-22
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• 2022

This study aims to observe the swelling representative rocks in Korea and to suggest improvements in the use of test methods and prior analysis in relation to the weathering of rocks. The swelling test and analysis were performed on the drilling cores obtained for the ground investigation at the domestic highway construction site. For the method of determining the absorption expansion index of rocks, the method proposed in "Standard Methods for Sample Collection and Specimen Preparation" of ISRM and Korean Rock Engineers Standard Rock Test Method was used. The specimen for the measurement of the expansion displacement was cylindrical with a height of 10 cm and a diameter of 5 cm. The existing swelling analysis method evaluates the sensitivity to weathering by using the maximum expansion displacement, but since the classification by bedrock grade is unclear, it is reasonable to use the rate of change of the expansion displacement according to the immersion time. It is necessary to conduct an experiment to distinguish between weathering and fault deterioration. In addition, long-term weathering prediction technology for each cancer type is needed through the expansion displacement analysis of the chemical weathering stage.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2023

The brittleness of rocks plays an important role in determining the fragmentation and failure behavior of rock. However, there is still no standard method to evaluate the brittleness of rock, and previous studies have suggested the several definitions for estimation of brittleness of rock. Even in the process of mechanical rock excavation and drilling, the brittleness of rock is considered as an important property for evaluating the excavation efficiency of mechanical excavators or boreability of rock. The previous studies have been carried out to investigate the correlation between different brittleness of rock and cutting efficiency and boreability of rock. This study introduced a method for calculating the brittleness of rock from punch penetration test, and analyzed the correlation between the brittleness of rock calculated by the uniaxial compressive and Brazilian tensile strengths and that from punch penetration test. From the results of correlation analysis, the relationship between various brittleness was confirmed, and it was found that PSI and BI₃ showed a good correlation with the strength-based brittleness index. In addition, the results indicated that B₃ and B₄ are suitable to represent the brittleness of rock in the field of mechanical rock excavation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.61-70
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• 2008

Load settlement behaviors and load transfer characteristics of rock-socketed pile subjected bi-directional load at pile tip were investigated using bi-directional pile load tests (BD PLT) performed on ten large-diameter drilled shafts at four sites. Based on test results, additional pile-toe displacement ($w_{bs}$) by coupled soil resistance was analyzed, and thus equivalent top loaded load-settlement curve of pile subjected bi-directional load was proposed by taking into account the coupled soil resistance. Through comparisons with field case studies, it is found that for test piles there exists effect of coupled soil resistance, which is represented by wbs, and thus an equivalent curve obtained by existing uncoupled methods can overestimate bearing capacity of piles by BD PLT. On the other hand, the analysis by the proposed method with soil coupling effect has a considerably larger settlement when compared with the results by uncoupled load transfer method and estimates reasonable load-settlement behaviors of test piles. In case of pile socketed in high strength rocks, however, effects of coupled soil resistance can be neglected.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.109-117
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• 2007

Uncertainty is pervasive in rock slope stability analysis due to various reasons and subsequently it may cause serious rock slope failures. Therefore, the importance of uncertainty has been recognized and subsequently the probability theory has been used to quantify the uncertainty since 1980's. However, some uncertainties, due to incomplete information, cannot be handled satisfactorily in the probability theory and the fuzzy set theory is more appropriate for those uncertainties. In this study the random variable is considered as fuzzy number and the fuzzy set theory is employed in rock slope stability analysis. However, the previous fuzzy analysis employed the approximate method, which is first order second moment method and point estimate method. Since previous studies used only the representative values from membership function to evaluate the stability of rock slope, the approximated analysis results have been obtained in previous studies. Therefore, the Monte Carlo simulation technique is utilized to evaluate the probability of failure for rock slope in the current study. This overcomes the shortcomings of previous studies, which are employed vertex method. With Monte Carlo simulation technique, more complete analysis results can be secured in the proposed method. The proposed method has been applied to the practical example. According to the analysis results, the probabilities of failure obtained from the fuzzy Monte Carlo simulation coincide with the probabilities of failure from the probabilistic analysis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2022

Dam slope RIM is a highly important contact interface where the main body and the base surface are connected. In general, when the grouting for the slope of the dam structure is designed, it is planned using limited data (drilling, geological map, etc.). This makes it very difficult to accurately consider the original ground characteristics of the slope RIM grouting target, In addition, when the grouting volume planned during the design is drilled and injected into the original ground where the waterstop is secured, there is a possibility that the original ground with the waterstop is disturbed and the effect of the waterstop is rather diminished. In order to overcome such problems, it is more suitable to first consider geological conditions and determine whether to perform optimal grouting on the original ground through on-site repair tests before performing RIM grouting. In this paper, to determine the grouting of the RIM unit, a pilot hole water pressure test was performed on the rock of the slope in the target section. The analysis shows grouting volume of 1 Lugeon or less, and the cement injection amount also shows the injection result of 1 kg/m or less. In this case, performing grouting is rather counterproductive. This result can be evaluated through a rock of which some degree of order of mass is secured, as it is a dam design standard of 1 Lugeon or less when analyzed, using the results of visual observation and geological map creation during slope cutting. Therefore, in conclusion, it is preferable to make the decision for using RIM grouting on the slope of the dam body structure, based on 1 Lugeon in a rock state, and the cement injection amount also at 1 kg/m.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6C
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• pp.321-329
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• 2009

Laboratory compressive test was conducted on 6 different types of rock in order to investigate the characteristic of critical strain under uniaxial and triaxial stress condition. The results of uniaxial compressive test mostly ranged within 1~100MPa, the critical strain was also located between 0.1~1.0%. Therefore the results distributed within the upper and lower boundary proposed by Sakurai (1982). And the failure/critical strain ratio (${\varepsilon}_f/{\varepsilon}_0$) showed between 1.0~1.8 value depending on the uniaxial compressive strength. The results of critical strain by triaxial compressive test showed below 0.8% value for all test, the M value calculated from uniaxial and triaxial compressive test results ranged 1.0~8.0 for most of rock specimens. It is concluded that failure strain (${\varepsilon}_{f3}$) of rock mass, which is in triaxial stress condition is larger than the results of uniaxial stress condition (${\varepsilon}_{f1}$) by 1.0~8.0 times and value showed 1.0~1.8 larger value than critical strain (${\varepsilon}_{01}$). Therefore it is a conservative way for rock tunnel to use critical strain (${\varepsilon}_{01}$) calculated from a uniaxial compressive strength on tunnel displacement monitoring.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.445-466
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• 2017

Yeongdong area is located in the contact zone between central southeastern Ogcheon belt and Yeongnam massif, in which Cretaceous Yeongdong basin exists. Therefore, the study area has complex geological environment of various geological age and rock types such as Precambrian metamorphic rocks, age-unknown Ogcheon Supergroup, Paleozoic/Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, Mesozoic igneous rocks and Quaternary alluvial deposits. This study focuses on the link between the various geology and water type, and discussed the source of some major ions and their related water-rock interaction. For this study, the field parameters and ion concentrations for twenty alluvial/weathered and eighty bedrock aquifer wells were used. Statistical analysis indicates that there was no significant differences in groundwater quality between wet and dry seasons. Although various types were observed due to complex geology, 80 to 84 % of samples showed $Ca-HCO_3$ water type. Some wells placed in alluvial/weathered aquifers of Precambrian metamorphic and Jurassic granitic terrains showed somewhat elevated $NO_3$ and Cl concentrations. $Mg-HCO_3$ typed waters prevailed in Cretaceous Yeongdong sedimentary rocks. The deeper wells placed in bedrock aquifers showed complicated water types varying from $Ca-HCO_3$ through $Ca-Cl/SO_4/NO_3$ to $Na-HCO_3$ and Na-Cl type. Groundwater samples with $Na-HCO_3$ or Na-Cl types are generally high in F concentrations, indicating more influences of water-rock interaction within mineralized/hydrothermal alteration zone by Cretaceous porphyry or granites. This study revealed that many deep-seated aquifer had been contaminated by $NO_3$, especially prominent in Jurassic granites area. Based on molar ratios of $HCO_3/Ca$, $HCO_3/Na$, Na/Si, it can be inferred that Ca and $HCO_3$ components of most groundwater in alluvial/weathered aquifer wells were definitely related with dissolution of calcite. On the other hand, Ca and $HCO_3$ in bedrock aquifer seem to be due to dissolution of feldspar besides calcite. However, these molar ratios require other mechanism except simple weathering process causing feldspar to be broken into kaolinite. The origin of $HCO_3$ of some groundwater occurring in Cretaceous Yeongdong sedimentary rock area seems to be from dissolution of dolomite($MgCO_3$) or strontianite($SrCO_3$) as well.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.125-148
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• 1993

Groundwater flow in fractured rock masses is controlled by combined effects of fracture networks, state of geostafic stresses and crossflow between fractures and rock matrix. Furthermore the scaie dependent, anisotropic properties of hydraulic parameters results mainly from irregular paftems of fracture system, which can not be evaluated properly with the methods available at present. The basic assumpfion of discrete fracture network model is that groundwater flows only along discrete fractures and the flow paths in rock mass are determined by geometric paftems of interconnected fractures. The characteristics of fracture distribution in space and fracture hydraulic parameters are represented as the probability density functions by stochastic simulation. The discrete fracture network modelling was aftempted to characterize the groundwater flow in the vicinity of existing large cavems located in Wonjeong-ri, Poseung-myon, Pyeungtaek-kun. The fracture data of $1\textrm{km}^2$ area were analysed. The result indicates that the fracture sets evaluated from an equal area projection can be grouped into 6 sets and the fracture sizes are distributed in longnormal. The conductive fracture density of set 1 shows the highest density of 0.37. The groundwater inflow into a carvem was calculated as 29ton/day with the fracture transmissivity of $10^{-8}\textrm{m}^2/s$. When the fracture transmissivity increases in an order, the inflow amount estimated increases dramatically as much as fold, i.e 651 ton/day. One of the great advantages of this model is a forward modelling which can provide a thinking tool for site characterization and allow to handle the quantitative data as well as qualitative data.