• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.19-32
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• 2018

During the process of gas hydrate extraction in the deep seabed, fine diatom particle migration occurs, which causes the seabed slope failure and the productivity deterioration of the gas hydrate. Therefore, a study related with the changes of the ground characteristics due to the fine particle migration is required. The objective of this study is to investigate the change of hydraulic properties of sand due to the migration of fine diatom particle in sandy soils. In order to simulate the sediments of the Ulleung basin gas hydrate in the East Sea, fifteen sand-diatom mixtures that have different diatom volume fractions (DVF) are prepared. During the falling head permeability tests, the coefficients of permeability are measured according to the DVF. In addition, for the simulation of the fine diatom particle migration, constant head permeability tests are conducted by applying the hydraulic pressures of 3 kPa, 6kPa, and 9 kPa on a specimen composed of two layers: a specimen with 50% DVF in upper layer and a specimen with 0% DVF in lower layer. Furthermore, the coefficient of permeability and the electrical resistivity of the migration zone are measured during the constant head permeability test. The falling head permeability tests show that the coefficient of permeability decreases as the DVF of the specimen increases. In addition, the gradient of the coefficient of permeability curve decreases in the DVF range of 10%~50% compared with that of 0%~10%, and increases above 50% in DVF. The result of constant head permeability tests shows that the coefficient of permeability decreases and electrical resistivity increases in the migration zone due to the fine diatom particle migration. This study demonstrates that fine diatom particle migration reduces the permeability of the soils and the behavior of the migration zone due to the fine diatom particle migration may be estimated based on the reversal relationship between the coefficient of permeability and the electrical resistivity.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.117-128
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• 2014

Generally, when constructing a tunnel close to existing structures, the tunnel must be built at a constant distance from the structures that is more than width of tunnel to minimize the impact of interference between an existing structures and new tunnel. Spacing of these closed tunnels should be designed considering soil state, size of tunnel and reinforcement method. Particularly when the ground is soft, a care should be taken with the tunnel plans because the closer the tunnel is to the existing structures, the greater the deformation becomes. As methods of reviewing the effect of cavities on the stability of a tunnel, field measurement, numerical analysis and scaled model test can be considered. In the methods, the scaled model test can reproduce the engineering characteristics of a rock in a field condition and the shape of structures using the scale factor even not all conditions cannot be considered. In this study, when construction of a tunnel close to existing structures, the method and considering factors of the scaled model test were studied to predict the actual tunnel behavior in planning stage. Furthermore, model test results were compared with the numerical analysis results for verifying the proposed model test procedure. Also, practical results were derived to verify the stability of a tunnel vis-a-vis cavities through the scaled model test, which assumed spacing distances of 0.25 D, 0.50 D, and 1.00 D between the cavities and tunnel as well as the network state distribution. The spacing distances of 1.0 D is evaluated as the critical distance by the results of model test and numerical analysis.