• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.1 s.66
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• pp.32-42
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• 2007

Severe damage can occur around deposition holes due to complex interaction of thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) loading during the long term operation of high level radioactive waste repository. Many candidate sites for repository are located in crystalline rock mass, therefore mechanism of damage follows the form of brittle fracture and failure. This paper briefly introduces major outcomes from 15 years international collaborative project, DECOVALEX, and presents major study results for current ongoing benchmark test study from DECOVALEX-THMC, to evaluate the effect of THM loading to rock mass in excavation damaged zone (EDZ) near deposition holes. Through benchmark test model by simplifying THM loading to boundary loading obtained numerical results are compared, and discrete fracture interaction after up to 1 million years operation is discussed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2004

This paper is to introduce an article published in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 2003. In this research, a fracture mechanics model is developed to illustrate the importance of time-dependence far brittle fractured rock. In particular a model is developed fer the time-dependent degradation of rock joint cohesion. Degradation of joint cohesion is modeled as the time-dependent breaking of intact patches or rock bridges along the joint surface. A fracture mechanics model is developed utilizing subcritical crack growth, which results in a closed-form solution for joint cohesion as a function of time. As an example, a rock block containing rock bridges subjected to plane sliding is analyzed. The cohesion is found to continually decrease, at first slowly and then more rapidly. At a particular value of time the cohesion reduces to value that results in slope instability. A second example is given where variations in some of the material parameters are assumed. A probabilistic slope analysis is conducted, and the probability of failure as a function of time is predicted. The probability of failure is found to increase with time, from an initial value of 5% to a value at 100 years of over 40%. These examples show the importance of being able to predict the time-dependent behavior of a rock mass containing discontinuities, even for relatively short-term rock structures.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.545-557
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• 2009

In order to investigate dynamic damage mechanism of brittle materials, Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) have been adapted to apply different impact levels to rocks in South Korea. High resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) was used to estimate the damage in tested rock samples nondestructively. The cracks which are parallel to the loading axis are visible on the contact surface with the incident bar under lower level of impact. The surface cracks disappeared with increment of impact level due to confined effect between the incident bar and sample, while axial splitting are happened near the outer surface.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.363-378
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• 1991

Field and microscopic evidence, XRD,EPMA and chemical data suggest that parent rock of talc ore deposits of Yesan district was originated from ultramafic igneous rock. Parent rock can be divided into serpentinized dunite, serpentinized peridotite, metagabbro, amphibolite and hornblende schist. The ore deposits are highly sheared, and show many evidences of hydrothermal alteration and metamorphism at the greenschist and albite-epidote amphibolite facies. The process of steatitization is variable depending upon the composition, and the degree of alteration and metamorphism of the parent rocks. Steatitization can be divided into two processes with or without serpentinization. The parent rocks with serpentinization are serpentinized dunite, serpentinized peridotite and metagabbro, showing the following alteration process; olivine ${\rightarrow}$ serpentine${\rightarrow}$ talc. The rocks without serpentinization are amphibolite and hornblende schist showing the following sequence; hornblende${\rightarrow}$ chlorite${\rightarrow}$ talc. Formation of talc deposits is summarized as following six stages; I) Intrusion of ultramafic rocks, 2) autometamorphism, 3) metamorphism at greenschist and albite-epidote-amphibolite facies, 4) brittle deformation, 5) hydrothermal alteration, 6) purification of low-grade talc by late dyke intrusion.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.483-493
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• 2018

Experimental study of the deterioration of high-temperature rock subjected to rapid cooling is essential for thermal engineering applications. To evaluate the influence of thermal shock on heated granite with different temperatures, laboratory tests were conducted to record the changes in the physical properties of granite specimens and the dynamic mechanical characteristics of granite after rapid cooling were experimentally investigated by using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The results indicate that there are threshold temperatures ($500-600^{\circ}C$) for variations in density, porosity, and P-wave velocity of granite with increasing treatment temperature. The stress-strain curves of $500-1000^{\circ}C$ show the brittle-plastic transition of tested granite specimens. It was also found that in the temperature range of $200-400^{\circ}C$, the through-cracks induced by rapid cooling have a decisive influence on the failure pattern of rock specimens under dynamic load. Moreover, the increase of crack density due to higher treatment temperature will result in the dilution of thermal shock effect for the rocks at temperatures above $500^{\circ}C$. Eventually, a fitting formula was established to relate the dynamic peak strength of pretreated granite to the crack density, which is the exponential function.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.541-557
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• 2015

This research aims to analyze the fracture coalescence characteristics of brittle sandstone specimen ($80{\times}160{\times}30mm$ in size) containing various flaws (a single fissure, double squares and combined flaws). Using a rock mechanics servo-controlled testing system, the strength and deformation behaviours of sandstone specimen containing various flaws are experimentally investigated. The results show that the crack initiation stress, uniaxial compressive strength and peak axial strain of specimen containing a single fissure are all higher than those containing double squares, while which are higher than those containing combined flaws. For sandstone specimen containing combined flaws, the uniaxial compressive strength of sandstone increase as fissure angle (${\alpha}$) increases from $30^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$, which indicates that the specimens with steeper fissure angles can support higher axial capacity for ${\alpha}$ greater than $30^{\circ}$. In the entire deformation process of flawed sandstone specimen, crack evolution process is discussed detailed using photographic monitoring technique. For the specimen containing a single fissure, tensile wing cracks are first initiated at the upper and under tips of fissure, and anti-tensile cracks and far-field cracks are also observed in the deformation process; moreover anti-tensile cracks usually accompanies with tensile wing cracks. For the specimen containing double squares, tensile cracks are usually initiated from the top and bottom edge of two squares along the direction of axial stress, and in the process of final unstable failure, more vertical splitting failures are observed in the ligament region. When a single fissure and double squares are formed together into combined flaws, the crack coalescence between the fissure tips and double squares plays a significant role for ultimate failure of the specimen containing combined flaws.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.312-320
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• 2002

It is well-known that when single rock fractures undergo shear displacement, they are influenced by the boundary conditions and fracture roughness. In this case, aperture geometry will change by means of dilation due to the shear displacement. As fractures become the flow paths, fluid flow through rock fractures is affected by the void geometry. In this study, therefore, the influence of roughness on shear behavior of fractures has been investigated, and the resulting hydraulic behavior has been analyzed. In order for this study, a statistical method has been used to generate rough fractures, and they have been adopted into new conceptual models fur fracture shearing and flow calculations. The main contributions of this study are as follows: firstly, fracture shear behavior becomes less brittle with decreasing fracture roughness and increasing normal stress. Then, the characteristics of aperture distribution becomes those of roughness of fractures indicating its hydraulic significance. Finally, it is observed that with decreasing fracture roughness the breakdown of channel flow occurs more slowly.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.77-88
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• 2017

The geology of the study area is composed mainly of conglomerate, sandstone, and shale and basalt. It is a rock that has been observed to move relatively recently through various brittle deformation and various stress fields during the recent period. To form a gentle terrain with severe crushing. The slope is located at the intersection of the Taegok Fault in the north-northeast direction and the Bukok Fault in the western north-west direction, and many faults, fault zones and fracture zones of various sizes are developed in the rock bed. In this study, the geological characteristics of the slope are investigated and the countermeasure method is suggested. It is suggested that periodical measurement and analysis should be performed by installing a measuring instrument according to each structure for safety management of the surrounding roads and grounds during construction or reinforcement by the countermeasure method for the slope of the study area.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.121-131
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• 2017

We studied the time-dependent behaviors of rock and concrete materials by conducting the static and dynamic long-term strength tests. In particular, acoustic emission(AE) signals generated while the tests were analyzed and used for the long-term stability evaluation. In the static subcritical crack growth test, the long-term behavior and AE characteristics of Mode I and Mode II were investigated. In the dynamic long-term strength test, the fatigue limit and characteristics of generation of AE were analyzed through cyclic four points bending test. The graph of the cumulative AE hits versus time showed a shape similar to that of the creep curve with the first, second and third stages. The possibility for evaluating the static and dynamic long-term stability of rock and concrete is presented from the log - log relationship between the slope of the secondary stage of cumulative AE hits curve and the delayed failure time.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.501-517
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• 2011

In general, the tunnel stability during excavation is assessed by comparing measured displacements at roof and sidewall to control criteria. The control criteria were established based on the past experience that considered ground conditions, size of the tunnel cross section, construction method, supports, etc. Therefore, a number of researches on the control criteria using the critical strain have been conducted. However, the critical strain obtained from uniaxial compression tests have drawbacks of not taking damage in rock mass due to increase of stress level and longitudinal arching into account. In this paper, damage-controlled tests simulating stress level and longitudinal arching during tunnel excavation were carried out in addition to uniaxial compression tests to investigate the critical strain characteristics of granite and gneiss that are most abundant rock types in Korean peninsula. Then, the critical strains obtained from damage-controlled tests were compared to those from uniaxial compression tests; the former showed less values than the latter. These results show that the critical strain obtained from uniaxial compression tests has to be reduced a little bit to take stress history during tunnel excavation into account. Moreover, the damage critical strain was proposed to be used for assessment of the brittle failure that usually occurs in deep tunnels.