• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.703-713
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• 2020

In many geological fields, including hydrogeology, it is of great importance to determine the heterogeneity of the subsurface media. This study briefly introduces the concept and theory of the method that can estimate the hydraulic properties of the media constituting the aquifer, which was recently introduced by Park (2020). After the introduction, the method was applied to the synthetic aquifer to demonstrate the practicality, from which various implications were drawn. The introduced technique uses a global optimization technique called the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES). Conceptually, it is a methodology to characterize the aquifer heterogeneity by assimilating the groundwater level time-series data due to the imposed hydraulic stress. As a result of applying the developed technique to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of a hypothetical aquifer, it was confirmed that a total of 40000 unknown values were estimated in an affordable computational time. In addition, the results of the estimates showed a close numerical and structural similarity to the reference hydraulic conductivity field, confirming that the quality of the estimation by the proposed method is high. In this study, the developed method was applied to a limited case, but it is expected that it can be applied to a wider variety of cases through additional development of the method. The development technique has the potential to be applied not only to the field of hydrogeology, but also to various fields of geology and geophysics. Further development of the method is currently underway.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.229-240
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• 2007

In this study, seismic anisotropic tomography algorithm was developed for imaging the seismic velocity anisotropy of the subsurface. This algorithm includes several inversion schemes in order to make the inversion process stable and robust. First of all, the set of the inversion parameters is limited to one slowness, two ratios of slowness and one direction of the anisotropy symmetric axis. The ranges of the inversion parameters are localized by the pseudobeta transform to obtain the reasonable inversion results and the inversion constraints are controlled efficiently by ACB(Active Constraint Balancing) method. Especially, the inversion using the Fresnel volume is applied to the anisotropic tomography and it can make the anisotropic tomography more stable than ray tomography as it widens the propagation angle coverage. The algorithm of anisotropic tomography is verified through the numerical experiments. And, it is applied to the real field data measured at limestone region and the results are discussed with the drill log and geological survey data. The anisotropic tomography algorithm will be able to provide the useful tool to evaluate and understand the geological structure of the subsurface more reasonably with the anisotropic characteristics.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2015

A fault is one of the critical factors that may lead to a possible ground collapse occurring in construction site. A fault core, however, possibly acting as a failure plane in whole fault zone, is composed of fractured rock and gouge nonuniformly distributed and thus can be characterized by its wide range of shear strength which is generally acquired by experimental method for stability analysis. In this study, we performed direct shear test and grain size distribution analysis for 62 fault core samples cropped from 12 different spots located in the vicinity of Kyongju and Ulsan, Korea. As a result, the range of shear strength representing the characteristics of fault cores in the study regions is determined with regard to vertical stress using a regression analysis for experiment data. The weight ratio of gravels in the samples is proportional to the shear strength and that of silt and clay is in inverse proportion to the shear strength. For most samples, the coefficient of determination is over 0.7 despite of inhomogeneity of them and consequently we determined the lower limit and upper limit of the shear strength with regard to the weight ratio by setting the confidence interval of 95%.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.109-121
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• 2003

Lots of various utilities are buried under the surface. The effective management of underground utilities is becoming the very important subject for the harmonious administration of the city. Ground Penetrating Radar(GPR) survey including other various underground survey methods, is mainly used to detect the position and depth of buried underground utilities. However, GPR is not applicable, under the circumstances of shallow depth and places, where subsurface materials are inhomogeneous and are composed of clay, salt and gravels. The aim of this study is to overcome these limitations of GPR and other underground surveys. High-frequency electromagnetic (HFEM) method is developed for the non-destructive precise deep surveying of underground utilities. The method is applied in the site where current underground surveys are useless to detect the underground big pipes, because of poor geotechlical environment. As a result, HFEM survey was very successful in detecting the buried shallow and deep underground pipes and in obtaining the geotechnical information, although other underground surveys including GPR were not applicable. Therefore this method is a promising new technique in the lots of fields, such as underground surveying and archaeology.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.267-276
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• 1989

A numerical model for nuclide migration through fractured rock media has been developed. Nuclide transport with groundwater in rock fissures and the diffusion of nuclides into rock matrix are considered one-dimensionally . In the safety assessment of the repository for radioactive waste, this one-dimensional model by the finite-difference scheme, which enables us not only to use more realistic boundary conditions but also to model the nonhomogeneous rock medium as the multilayered media, can be used effectively with the analytical mode. The solution by the numerical model will be verified analytically, and then extended to the double-layered rock medium transport model.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.3 s.178
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• pp.269-284
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• 2006

Aquifer responses to the river stage fluctuations were analyzed between the groundwater level and the river stage in an alluvial aquifer. The auto-correlation and cross-correlation as a time series analysis were applied. Study site is a floodplain in the Mangyeong river. Groundwater levels in each depth representing the silt and sand(SS), gravel and sand(GS), and weathered zone(WZ) layer were monitored. The groundwater levels were more sensitive to the river stage fluctuations than rainfall. Since the river stages are influenced by the gate operations downstream and tide, show periodic patterns, and the correlation coefficients with rainfall is low. Cross-correlation function between groundwater level in each depth do not show any delay time, then response time is very short to each depth. Cross-correlation analysis were performed to estimate the response time of groundwater levels to river stage fluctuations. Groundwater levels respond to the river stage within 30 minutes to 1 hour in wells near the stream. Short time lag between groundwater level and river stage indicates the quick response. A different response time imply the hydraulic inhomogeneity of the site, and a probable high permeability zone between river and aquifer can be inferred. Mangyeong-river in study site is a gaining stream normally, and river stage rising by gate operation or floods makes river water flow into groundwater. The auto-correlation and cross-correlation functions as a time series analysis can be a good tool to interpret the aquifer responses to stream stage fluctuation

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.241-250
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• 2003

Rock mass is very inhomogeneous in nature and data obtained by site investigations and tests are very limited. For this reason, many uncertainties are to be included in the process of constructing structures in rock mass. In the design of a tunnel, support pattern, advance rate, and excavation method, which are important design parameters, must be determined to be optimal. However, it is not easy to determine those parameters. Moreover if those parameters are determined incorrectly, unexpected risk occurs such as decrease in the stability of a tunnel or economic loss due to the excessive supports etc. In this study, how to determine an optimal support pattern and advance rate, which are the important tunnel design parameters, is introduced based on a risk analysis. It can be confirmed quantitatively that the more supported a tunnel is, the larger reliability index becomes and the more stable the tunnel becomes. Also an optimal support pattern and advance rate can be determined quantitatively by performing a risk analysis considering construction cost and the cost of loss which can be occurred due to the collapse of a tunnel.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.533-551
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• 2015

The rock fracturing during waterjet cutting is very complicated because rock is inhomogeneous and anisotropic, compared with artificial materials (e.g., metal or glass). Thus, it is very important to verify the effects of rock properties on waterjet rock cutting performance. Properties affecting the rock cutting efficiency have been variously described in the literature, depending on the experimental conditions (e.g., water pressure, abrasive feed rate, or standoff distance) and rock-types studied. In this study, a rock-property-related literature review was performed to determine the key properties important for waterjet rock cutting. Porosity, uniaxial compressive strength, and hardness of the rock were determined to be the key properties affecting waterjet rock cutting. The results of this analysis can provide the basic knowledge to determine the cutting efficiency of waterjet rock cutting technology for rock excavation-related construction.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.400-414
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• 2021

Under high-level radioactive waste repository conditions, bentonite as an engineered barrier material undergoes thermal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical processes. We report the applications of X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) imaging technique on the characterization and analysis of bentonite over the past decade to provide a reference of the utilization of this technique and the recent research trends. This overview of the X-ray CT technique applications includes the characterization of the bentonite either in pellets or powder form. X-ray imaging has provided a means to extract grain information at the microscale and identify crack networks responsible for the pellets' heterogeneity. Regarding samples of pellets-powder mixtures under hydration, X-ray CT allowed the identification and monitoring of heterogeneous zones throughout the test. Some results showed how zones with pellets only swell faster compared to others composed of pellets and powder. Moreover, the behavior of fissures between grains and bentonite matrix was observed to change under drying and hydrating conditions, tending to close during the former and open during the latter. The development of specializing software has allowed obtaining strain fields from a sequence of images. In more recent works, X-ray CT technique has served to estimate the dry density, water content, and particle displacement at different testing times. Also, when temperature was added to the hydration process of a sample, CT technology offered a way to observe localized and global density changes over time.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.499-509
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• 2016

In recent years, the use of underground spaces becomes more frequent and the demands for urban tunnels are rapidly increasing. The urban tunnels constructed in the ground with a shallow and soft cover might be deformed in various forms on the face, which would lead, the tunnels to behavior 3-dimensionally, which may have a great impact on the longitudinal load transfer. The tunnel face might deform in various forms depending on the construction method, overburden and the heterogeneity of the ground. And accordingly, the type and size of the distribution of the load transferred to the ground adjacent to the tunnel face as well as the form of the loosened ground may appear in various ways depending on the deformation form of the tunnel face. Therefore, in this study was conducted model tests by idealizing the deformation behavior of the tunnel face, that were constant deformation, the maximum deformation on the top and the maximum deformation on the bottom. And the test results were analyzed focusing on the deformation of the face and the longitudinal load transfer at the ground above the tunnel. As results, it turned out that the size and the distribution type of the load, which was transferred to the tunnel as well as the earth pressure on the face were affected by the deformation type of the face. The largest load was transferred to the tunnel when the deformation was in a constant form. Less load was transferred when the maximum deformation on the bottom, and the least load was transferred when the maximum deformation on the top. In addition, it turned out that, if the cover became more shallow, a longitudinal load transfer in the tunnel would limited to the region close to the face; however, if the cover became higher than a certain value, the area of the load transfer would become wider.