• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 2024

Excessive inflow of groundwater during tunnel excavation not only affects the stability and constructability of the tunnel, but is also one of the main causes of ground settlement due to groundwater level drawdown. The most commonly applied measure against excessive groundwater inflow during tunnel excavation in soil or fractured zone is to reduce the ground permeability coefficient by injecting grout material. Generally, the grouting area is assumed to be same as the plastic zone that occurs during tunnel excavation, but injecting grout material in the area of plastic zone is appropriate only for reinforcement grouting. In order to determine the thickness of cutoff grouting, the amount of reduction in the water permeability coefficient due to the application of cutoff grouting must be considered. In this study, a method for estimating the range of cutoff grouting considering the reduction in permeability coefficient was mathematically derived and evaluated through computer numerical analysis.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.655-661
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• 2005

For a hydro power plant project, the headrace tunnel having a finished diameter of 3.3m was constructed in volcanic rocks with well-developed vertical joint and high groundwater table. The intake facility was located 20.3 km upstream of the powerhouse and headrace tunnel of 20 km in length and penstock of 440 m in height connected the intake and the powerhouse. The typical caldera lake, Lake Toba set the geology at the site; the caving of the ground caused tension cracks in the vertical direction to be developed and initial stresses at the ground to be released. High groundwater table(the maximum head of 20 bar) in the area of well-connected vertical joints delayed the progress of tunnel excavation severely due to the excessive inflow of groundwater. The excavation of tunnel was made using open-shield type TBM and mucking cars on the rail. High volume of water inflow raised the water level inside tunnel to 70 cm, 17% of tunnel diameter (3.9 m) and hindered the mucking of spoil under water. To improve the productivity, several adjustments such as modification of TBM and mucking cars and increase in the number of submersible pumps were made for the excavation of severe water inflow zone. Since the ground condition encountered during excavation turned out to be much worse, it was decided to adopt PC segment lining instead of RC lining. Besides, depending on the conditions of the water inflow, rock mass condition and internal water pressure, one of the invert PC segment lining with in-situ RC lining, RC lining and steel lining was applied to meet the site specific condition. With the adoption of PC segment lining, modification of TBM and other improvement, the excavation of the tunnel under severe groundwater condition was successfully completed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.104-126
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• 2024

Buffer and backfill play an essential role in isolating high-level radioactive waste and retard the migration of leaked radionuclides in deep geological disposal system. A bentonite mixture, which exhibits a swelling property, is considered for buffer and backfill materials, and excessive groundwater inflow from surrounding rock mass may affect stability and efficiency of their role as an engineered barrier. Therefore, stringent quality control as well as in-situ installation management and inflow water constrol for buffer and backfill are required to ensure the safety of deep disposal facilities. In this study, we analyzed the design requirements of buffer and backfill by examining various laboratory tests and a field study of the Steel Tunnel Test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden. We introduced how to control the quality of buffer and backfill construction in-field, and also presented how to handle excessive groundwater inflow into disposal caverns, validating the groundwater retention capacity of bentonite pellets and the effectiveness of geotexile use.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2006

For a hydro power plant project, the headrace tunnel having a finished diameter of 3.3 m was constructed in volcanic rocks with well-developed vertical joint and high groundwater table. The intake facility was located 20.3km upstream of the powerhouse and headrace tunnel of 20km in length and penstock of 440m in height connected the intake and the powerhouse. The typical caldera lake, Lake Toba set the geology at the site the caving of the ground caused tension cracks in the vertical direction to be developed and initial stresses at the ground to be released. High groundwater table(the maximum head of 20bar) in the area of well-connected vertical joints delayed the progress of tunnel excavation severely due to the excessive inflow of groundwater. The excavation of tunnel was made using open-shield type TBM and mucking cars on the rail. High volume of water inflowraised the water level inside tunnel to 70cm, 17% of tunnel diameter (3.9m) and hindered the mucking of spoil under water. To improve the productivity, several adjustments such as modification of TBM and mucking cars and increase in the number of submersible pumps were made forthe excavation of severe water inflow zone. Since the ground condition encountered during excavation turned out to be much worse, it was decided to adopt PC segment lining instead of RC lining. Besides, depending on the conditions of the water inflow, rock mass condition and internal water pressure, one of the invert PC segment lining with in-situ RC lining, RC lining and steel lining was applied to meet the site specific condition. With the adoption of PC segment lining, modification of TBM and other improvement, the excavation of the tunnel under severe groundwater condition was successfully completed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2008

Excessive amount of groundwater flowed into tunnel, while constructing Incheon international airport railway. Tunnel passes under subway line no. 2 with only 1.76 m below. To protect the existing structure, TRcM excavation method was applied. As station and construction shaft are already constructed, which are located back and forth of TRcM section, 86.4 ton per day of groundwater inflow is against expectation. To identify mechanism of excessive water inflow, hydraulic back analyses were performed. Then, hydro-mechanical coupled analysis were also performed with the hydrogeologic parameters identified, whose results are investigated for checking the stability of adjacent structures to the tunnel under construction. And a number of mechanical analyses were also performed to check the hydro-mechanical coupling effect. The result from the mechanical analysis shows that subsidence and tunnel ceiling displacement will be 0.85 mm and 1.32 mm. The result of hydro-mechanical couple analysis shows that subsidence and maximum tunnel ceiling displacement will be 1.2 mm and 1.72 mm. Additional displacements caused by groundwater draw down were identified, however, displacement is minute.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2002

This study aims to establish the methodology for design of an optimum water curtain system of the unlined underground oil storage cavern satisfying the requirements of hydrodynamic performance in a volcanic terrain of the south coastal area. For the optimum water curtain system in the storage facility, the general characteristics of groundwater flow system in the site are quantitatively described, i.e. distribution of hydraulic gradients, groundwater inflow rate into the storage caverns, and hydrogeologic influence area of the cavern. In this study, numerical models such as MODFLOW, FracMan/MAFIC and CONNECTFLOW are used for calculating the hydrogeological stability parameters. The design of a horizontal water curtain system requires considering the distance between water curtain and storage cavern, spacing of the water curtain boreholes, and injection pressure. From the numerical simulations at different scales, the optimum water curtain systems satisfying the containment criteria are obtained. The inflow rates into storage caverns estimated by a continuum model ranged from about 120 m$^3$/day during the operation stage to 130~140m$^3$/day during the construction stage, whereas the inflow rates by a fracture network model are 80~175m$^3$/day. The excavation works in the site will generate the excessive decline of groundwater level in a main fracture zone adjacent to the cavern. Therefore, the vertical water curtain system is necessary for sustaining the safe groundwater level in the fracture zone.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2020

Mountainous areas cover more than 70% of Korea. With the rapid increase in tunnel construction, tunnel-collapse incidents and excessive deformation are occurring more frequently. In addition, longer tunnel structures are being constructed, and geologically weaker ground conditions are increasingly being encountered during the construction process. Tunnels constructed under weak ground conditions exhibit long-term deformation behavior that leads to tunnel instability. This study analyzes the behavior of the bottom region of tunnels under geological conditions of long-term deformation. Long-term deformation causes various types of damage, such as cracks and ridges in the packing part of tunnels, as well as cracks and upheavals in the pavement of tunnels. We observed rapid tunnel over-displacement due to the squeezing of a fault rupture zone after the inflow of a large amount of groundwater. Excessive increments in the support member strength resulted in damage to the support and tunnel bottom. In addition, upward infiltration pressure on the tunnel road was found to cause severe pavement damage. Furthermore, smectite (a highly expandable mineral), chlorite, illite, and hematite, were also observed. Soil samples and rock samples containing clay minerals were found to have greater expansibility than general soil samples. Considering these findings, countermeasures against the deformation of tunnel bottoms are required.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2017

In recent years, ground subsidence has been frequently occurred by underground cavities due to the excessive groundwater inflow, caused by poor construction and management, during tunnel excavation and underground structure construction. In this study, a numerical model (SEEFLOW3D) was developed to estimate groundwater fluctuations for saturated-unsaturated poros media, evaluates the impact on ground excavation with open cut and non-open cut scenarios. In addition, the visual MODFLOW was applied to demonstrate the verification of the model compared with both results. Our results indicated that the RMSE and NRMSE was obtained to range over -3.95~5.7% and 0.56~4.62%, respectively. The developed model was expected to estimate groundwater discharges and apply analysis tool for optimum design of waterproof wall in future.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.35-48
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• 2009

An excessive ground displacement occurs with excavating tunnel in a fault zone because the fault has properties of soft ground in generally. It may have had a bad influence to adjacent structure. So, rapid reduction of ground strength by groundwater inflow should be prevented. It must be established for an impervious and reinforcing effect of ground to ensure a tunnel stability. The ground settlement and reinforcing effects were estimated by numerical analyses on tunnel through 570 m sector in Yangsan fault zone of Keongbu high-speed railway. Settlements evaluated by numerical analysis is similar to those calculated by using equation of Loganathan & Poulo. It was shown that reliable estimate of ground settlement by applying a prediction equation is possible. Applicability of adopted tunnel reinforcement method in fault zone was investigated by results of pilot construction and numerical analysis. Results from this study indicate that the adopted reinforcement method make tunnel displacements and member stresses restrain in design criteria.