• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2006

Recently, most of limestone quarries have been not mined by open-pit mining but by underground excavation to reduce environmental pollution. As a result, the size of underground galleries became bigger to maintain mass-production close to open-pit mining. However, the scale of pillars and galleries as well as the excavation methods may induce a few adverse problems for the stability of a mined gallery. In this study, the nomogram analysis and the prediction of rock damage zone induced by blasting were carried out. The testing conditions include concurrent blasting of two adjacent galleries, concurrent blasting of a transport drift and a inclined shaft, sequential blasting of two galleries, and separate blasting for each gallery. For each testing condition, blast vibration velocity was measured and analyzed. From the prediction formulas for blast vibration velocity derived in this study, the maximum depth of rock damage zone induced by blasting were also predicted.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.101-109
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• 2001

In order to develop a spatial information system that can efficiently manage various subsurface data and produce information in a proper form for a user, we established a database of the well cores and built 3-D shapes that visualize the subsurface objects such as wells, ore bodies, tunnels, and mine cavities. We also made analysis tools available for three-dimensional ore bodies constructed here, such as vertical cross-section generator and mass computing tool. This system was developed by coding Avenue, a scripting language incorporated in ArcView, which is a commercial GIS software. Using the system, it is expected that users can make fast and accurate analysis and interpretation through real-time queries and by contemplating various objects in 3-D perspective.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.295-306
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• 2021

This study used numerical modeling to investigate the stability of railway roadbed in areas with various underground cavities and rock conditions associated with mining activities. It compared combined loads from both passenger and freight trains with loads from only passenger trains. Stability was assessed with reference to the Korean government standards for railway subsidence allowance and railway warping repair. Sufficient stability regarding the railway subsidence allowance standard was not achieved when cavities were at depths of <5 m. The criteria for requiring railway warping repair were met when cavities were at depths of <15 m, depending on the rock fracture condition. This study provides the first report on systematic analysis land subsidence related to cavity size and rock fracture conditions associated with mining activities. We expect that this study could serve as an important reference for railway construction in mining areas.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.195-208
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• 2013

We employed electrical resistivity and optical borehole imaging methods to identify underground cavities and determine ground subsidence rate at the study area affected by land subsidence due to abandoned underground mines. At the study site 1, the anomalous zones of low resistivity ranging between 100 ohm-meter and 150 ohm-meter were observed and confirmed as an abandoned underground mine by subsequent borehole drilling and optical borehole imaging. Although the electrical resistivity survey was unavailable due to the paved surface of the study site 2, we were able to locate another abandoned underground mine with the collapsed mine shaft based on the distribution of the ore veins and confirmed it with borehole drilling. In addition, we measured vertical displacements of underground features indicating underground subsidence by conducting optical borehole imaging 6 times over a period of 43 days at the study site 2. The displacement magnitude at the deep segment caused by subsidence appeared to be 3 times larger than those at the shallow segment. Similarly, the displacement duration at the deep segment was 4 times longer than those at the shallow segment. Therefore, the combination of electrical resistivity and optical borehole imaging methods can be effectively applicable to detect and monitor ground subsidence caused by underground cavities.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.158-172
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• 2000

In order to visualize mine cavities, 3D seismic reflection data were acquired at the ground subsidence sites near Nampung coal mine area, Neukguri, Dogye, Samchuck. Full range 3D array with complete range of azimuths on the bins was considered in the data acquisition design. Because of poor S/N data, we estimated the stacking velocities by CVS method, and we estimated the shot and receiver statics on the shot and receiver stack data. We could confirm that features of ground collapse that were expected from the subsidence. In order to visualize the cavities, we need to apply more sophisticated processing schemes, such as velocity analysis, residual statics correction.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.457-475
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• 2018

For increase of reality in numerical analysis, a blasting vibration waveform obtained from field blast operations has been directly used for input parameters of dynamic analysis in the form of vibration velocity. A numerical model was built considering the geological characteristics of underground limestone opening as well as the mining stages in this opening, and the effect of blast operations on stability of underground limestone opening was investigated by dynamic numerical analysis. The adequacy of applying the real vibration waveform to dynamic analysis has been approved from the preliminary analysis, and the dynamic numerical analysis results show that the continuous mining operation can cause the collapse of roof in openings and the active yield zone around openings. Therefore, the additional reinforcements should be applied for ensuring the stability of underground limestone openings.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.623-646
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• 2021

As the demand for electric power increases with acceleration of electrification at home and abroad, the needs for coal-fired electrical power plant are accordingly increased. However, these coal-fired electrical power plants induce also many environmental problems such as increase of air pollutants, increase of possibility of land contamination by reclamation of coal ash, even though these power plants have a good economical efficiency. In case of a by-product of coal-fired electrical power plants, only 70% of them are recycled and the remaining 30% of by-product are fully buried in surrounding ground. Consequently, this study deals with coal ash backfilling mechanism in abandoned mine openings for the purposes of increasing the coal ash recycling rate as well as securing the mine area stability. In order to analyze the backfill and ground reinforcement by interaction between rock mass and backfills, the copying samples of discontinuous surface with different roughnesses were produced for bond strength tests and direct shear tests. And statistical analysis was also conducted to decide the characteristics of bond and shear behavior with joint roughness and their curing day. Numerical simulations were also analyzed for examining the effect of interface behavior on ground stability.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.449-463
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• 2014

There are many case studies and application cases in abandoned mines for hydraulic filling method filled by slurry or paste form, but research on the pneumatic filling is not applied in Korea. The damage of steel pipe is occurred by wear due to the flow of filling material in the bent area of steel pipe in traditional pneumatic filling method. In this study, the new pneumatic filling method was developed using a newly devised improved nozzle to improve the above problem. The model test for mine filling was performed in the laboratory for the simulated accessible or inaccessible mine cavities, and the filling efficiency by the results obtained from the test was calculated. The filling efficiency was analyzed from the variation of outlet angle, feed rate and grain size of sand in model test of simulated accessible mine cavity. The superiority of improved pneumatic filling method was proved through the analysis of filling efficiency by the results obtained from each model tests of gravitational, traditional, and improved filling method in simulated inaccessible mine cavity.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 1998

Time-lapse crosswell seismic data, recorded before and after the cavity filling, showed that the filling increased the velocity at a known cavity zone in an old mine site in Inchon area. The seismic response depicted on the tomogram and in conjunction with the geologic data from drillings imply that the size of the cavity may be either small or filled by debris. In this study, I attempted to evaluate the filling effect by analyzing velocity measured from the time-lapse tomograms. The data acquired by a downhole airgun and 24-channel hydrophone system revealed that there exists measurable amounts of source statics. I presented a methodology to estimate the source statics. The procedure for this method is: 1) examine the source firing-time for each source, and remove the effect of irregular firing time, and 2) estimate the residual statics caused by inaccurate source positioning. This proposed multi-step inversion may reduce high frequency numerical noise and enhance the resolution at the zone of interest. The multi-step inversion with different starting models successfully shows the subtle velocity changes at the small cavity zone. The inversion procedure is: 1) conduct an inversion using regular sized cells, and generate an image of gross velocity structure by applying a 2-D median filter on the resulting tomogram, and 2) construct the starting velocity model by modifying the final velocity model from the first phase. The model was modified so that the zone of interest consists of small-sized grids. The final velocity model developed from the baseline survey was as a starting velocity model on the monitor inversion. Since we expected a velocity change only in the cavity zone, in the monitor inversion, we can significantly reduce the number of model parameters by fixing the model out-side the cavity zone equal to the baseline model.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.412-428
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• 2012

To achieve mine development, a large amount of data concerned with the geological structure and the ore body had to be investigated and collected through geological survey, drilling and geophysical explorations. In most previous cases, however, the data were usually analyzed two dimensionally and those results showed some limits because of their 2D presentation. Those 2D maps such as geological plane sections or longitudinal sections cause lots of difficulties in understanding the complex geological structure or the feature of ore body in a spatial way. In this study, research area was set on the abandoned Yangyang iron mine in Korea and the Sugaeng ore body within the mine was selected as the research target to design a mine haulage system for reopening. A 3D mine model of this area was tried to be constructed using a 3D modelling software, GEMS. An accurate 3D model including the ore body, the geological structure, the old underground mine drifts and the new mine drifts was constructed under the purpose of reopening of the abandoned iron mine. Especially, mine design for trackless haulage system was conducted. New inclines and drifts were planned and modelled 3 dimensionally considering the utilization of old drifts and shaft. In addition to the 3D modelling, geostatistical technique was adopted to generate a spatial distribution of the ore grade and the rock physical properties. 3D model would be able to contribute in solving problems such as evaluating ore reserves, planning the mine development and additional explorations and changing the development plans, etc.