• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.58-68
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• 2008

The construction of an emergency spillway of Imha Dam is being in progress on the granite region including fault fractured zone. Considering that this tunnel is being excavated in three paralled rows, the pillar width between each tunnel and the face distance between each tunnel face were evaluated. The Influence of the fault fractured zone for the tunnel stability was investigated by numerical modelling in 3D. Various geophysical investigations and rock engineering field tests were carried out for these purposes. It was suitable that the second tunnel would be excavated in advance, maintaining the face distance between each tunnel face of minimum 25 m. The results of numerical modelling showed that the roof displacement and the convergence of the second tunnel were insignificant, and the maximum bending compressive stress, the maximum shear stress of shotcrete and the maximum axial force of rockbolt were also insignificant. Therefore, it was estimated that the stability of the spillway tunnel was ensured.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.323-336
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• 2003

Recently, the development of tunnel reinforcement method has been required relating to the shallow tunnelling in soft ground. In this study, the improvement method on tunnel stability is proposed by evaluating the efficiency of face reinforcement which enables to control extrusion of advance core, however, it is often neglected in urban tunnelling under the poor ground conditions. Systematic pre-confinement ahead of the face improves the tunnel stability, subsequently, displacement of the crown and surface settlement can be restrained by proper method. 3-dimensional numerical analysis including horizontal reinforcement modelling on a face is applied to estimate the behaviour of a tunnel in relation to the ground and reinforcement conditions. Consequently, extrusion at the face decreases significantly after using the horizontal reinforcement and the effect of reinforcement is much increased in case of applying the supplemental reinforcement ahead of the face together. Especially, confinement effect around the tunnel and the core is proved by means of the core reinforcement in poor ground conditions.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.855-867
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• 2018

When a weak zone exists ahead of tunnel face, the stress in the adjacent area would increase due to the longitudinal arching effect and the stability of the tunnel is affected. Therefore, it is critical to prepare a countermeasure through the investigation of the frontal weakness zone of the excavated face. Although there are several researches to predict the existence of weak zone ahead of tunnel face, such as geophysical exploration, numerical analysis and tunnel support, lack of studies on the relaxation zone depending on the width or distance from the vulnerable area. In this study, the impact of the weak zone on the formation of the relaxation zone was investigated. For this purpose, a series of laboratory test were carried out varying the width of the weak zone and the separation distance between tunnel face and weak zone. In the model test, sand with a water content of 3.8% was used to form a model ground. The model weak zone was constructed with dry sand curtains. The tunnel face was adjusted to allow a sequential excavation of upper and lower half part. load cells were installed on the bottom of the foundation and the tunnel face and measuring instruments for displacement were installed on the surface of the model ground to measure the vertical stress and surface displacements due to tunnel excavation respectively. The test results show that the width of weak zone did not affect the ground settlement while the ground subsidence drastically increased within 0.25D. The vertical stress and horizontal stress increased from 0.5D or less. In addition, the longitudinal arching effect is likely within the 1.0D zone ahead of the tunnel face, which may reduce the vertical stress in the ground following tunneling direction.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.192-204
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• 2011

In this study, 3-D analyses were conducted while taking every construction stage into account. Then 2-D analyses were conducted which yield the same results with the 3-D results. The crown settlement normalized by the ultimate value was compared during the process to overcome the discrepancy caused by different dimensions. When a bench or a core is left uncut to give extra support to the face and eventually the whole excavation boundary, this extra supporting effect also has to be included in the analysis. In this study, this effect is also implemented in terms of the load distribution factor. When the length of the bench is very short compared to the diameter of the tunnel in such cases as in short bench cut or in mini-bench cut, the supporting effect of the face does not disappear even after the bench is completely excavated and supported since the face is still too close to the point of interest. The 4th load distribution factor was defined to stand for the advance of the face after the completion of the excavation cycle. The 4th load distribution factor turned out to be very useful in determining the load distribution factors when a tunnel is excavated by bench cut with various bench lengths under different initial conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.931-938
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• 2006

Using high resolution stereoscopic imaging system three digital elevation model of tunnel face is acquired. The images oriented within a given tunnel coordinate system are brought into a stereoscopic vision system enabling three dimensional inspection and evaluation. The possibilities for the prediction ahead and outside of tunnel face have been improved by the digital vision system with 3D model. Interpolated image structures of rock mass between subsequent stereo images will enable to model the rock mass surrounding the opening within a short time at site. The models shall be used as input to numerical simulations on site, comparison of expected and encountered geological conditions, and for the interpretation of geotechnical monitoring results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2004.03b
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• pp.946-951
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• 2004

ITIS is applied to the several tunnel construction sites in Korea. Tunnel construction properties which are acquired from these sites are transferred to information management server(SQL 2000 server)by client application program in real time. Access permission to DB server depends on the user's roles. Some functions which cannot be embodied in SQL Server are serviced through XML and GMS server is used for spatial data based on GIS part. This system is supposed to give engineers the advantages which are not only easy handling of the program and computerized documentation on every information during construction but also analyzing the acquired data in order to predict the structure of ground and rock mass to be excavated later and show the guideline of construction. Neung-Dong tunnel and Mu-Gua express way tunnel are now under construction and with this system they have 3D visualized map of the geology and tunnel geometry and accumulate database of construction information such as tunnel face mapping results, special notes and pictures of construction and 3D monitoring data, all matters on the stability of rock bolts and shotcrete, and so on. Ground settlement prediction program included in ITIS, based on the artificial neural network(ANN) and supported by GIS technology is applying to the subway tunnel. This prediction tool can make it possible to visualize the ground settlement according to the excavation procedures by contouring the calculated result on 3D GIS map and to assess the damage of buildings in the vicinity of construction site caused by ground settlement.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.471-492
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• 2016

Underground tunnelling is one of the sustainable construction methods which can facilitate the increasing passenger transportation in the urban areas and benefit the community in the long term. Tunnelling in various ground conditions requires careful consideration of the stability factor. This paper investigates three dimensional stability of a shallow circular tunnel in a layered soil. Upper bound theorem of limit analysis was utilised to solve the tunnel face stability problem. A three dimensional kinematic admissible failure mechanism was improved to model a layered soil and limiting assumptions of the previous studies were resolved. The study includes calculation of the minimum support pressure acting on the face of the excavation in closed-face excavations. The effects of the characteristics of the layers on the minimum support pressure were examined. It was found that the ratio of the thickness of cover layers particularly when a weak layer is overlying a stronger layer, has the most significant influence on the minimum tunnel support pressure. Comparisons have been made with the results of the numerical modelling using FLAC3D software. Results of the current study were in a remarkable agreement with those of numerical modelling.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.361-372
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• 2014

A measurement of tunnel displacement plays an important role for stability analysis and prediction of possible fault zone ahead of tunnel face. In this study, we evaluated characteristics of tunnel behaviour due to the existence and orientation of fault zone based on 3-dimensional finite element numerical analysis. The crown settlement representing tunnel behaviour is acquired at 5 m away from tunnel face in combination with x-Rs control chart analysis based on statistics for trend line and L/C (longitudinal/crown displacement) ratio in order to propose risk management method for fault zone. As a result, x-Rs control chart analysis can enable to predict fault zone in terms of existence and orientation in tunnelling.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.939-948
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• 2006

The structural anisotropy and heterogeneity of rock mass, caused by discontinuities and weak zones, have a great influence on the deformation behavior of tunnel. Tunnel construction in these complex ground conditions is very difficult. No matter how excellent a geological investigation is, local uncertainties of rock mass conditions still remain. Under these uncertain circumstances, an accurate forecast of the ground conditions ahead of the advancing tunnel face is indispensable to safe and economic tunnel construction. This paper presents the effect of anisotropy and heterogeneity of the rock masses to be excavated by numerical analysis. The influences of distance from weak zone, the size or dimension, the different stiffness and the orientation of weak zones are analysedby 2-D and 3-D finite element analysis. By analysing these numerical results, the tunnel behavior due to excavation can be well understood and the prediction of rock mass condition ahead of tunnel face can be possible.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.335-341
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• 2005

In construction of a large cross section NATM tunnel, to keep the tunnel face stability by the ground itself bench cut method is commonly used. In order to necessity of partial face excavation method, we have to look for more enhanced method that can maintain better stress intensity. This paper presents a stress distribution of the Center Diaphragm Method from the partial face excavation methods, with the numerical analysis, and induced the optimal face distance, which is minimizing stress concentration and the optimal excavation step. Commerical 3 dimensional continuum analyzing FLAC-3D Ver. 2.1 program is used for the analysis. Analyses were performed to investigate ground behavior for tunnels with variable bench-length varying from 2m to 40m.