• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.295-308
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• 2018

The excavation of twin tunnels is a process that destabilizes the ground. The stability of the tunnel lining, the control of ground displacements around the tunnel resulting from each excavation and the interaction between them must be controlled. This paper provides a new approach for replacing the costly 3D analyses with the equivalent 2D analyses that closely reflects the in-situ measurements when excavating twin tunnels. The modeling was performed in two dimensions using the FLAC2D finite difference code. The three-dimensional effect of excavation is taken into account through the deconfinement rate ${\lambda}$ of the soil surrounding the excavation by applying the convergence-confinement method. A comparison between settlements derived by the proposed 2D analysis and the settlements measured in a real project in Algeria shows an acceptable agreement. Also, this paper reports the investigation into the changes in deformations on tunnel linings and surface settlements which may be expected if the twin tunnels of T4 El-Harouche Skikda were constructed with a tunneling machine. Special attention was paid to the influence of the excavation phase shift distance between the two mechanized tunnel faces. It is revealed that the ground movements and the lining deformations during tunnel excavation depend on the distance between the tunnels' axis and the excavation phase shift.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.861-874
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• 2019

A great interest in the seismic performance evaluation of small size tunnel structures such as utility tunnel has been taken since recent earthquakes at Pohang and Gyeongju in Korea. In this study, the three-dimensional dynamic analyses of vertical shaft and horizontal tunnel under seismic load were carried out using FLAC3D. Especially, parametric analyses was performed to investigate the effects of interfacial stiffness on interfacial behavior between soil and structure. The parametric analysis showed that the interfacial stiffness scarcely gave an effect on the global dynamic behavior of the structure, while had a significant effect on the local displacement behavior of the connections. The magnitude of the interfacial stiffness was inversely proportional to the displacement, while the magnitude of interface stiffness was proportional to the normal and shear stresses. The results of this study suggest the limitations of the existing empirical equations for interfacial stiffness and emphasize the need to develop new interfacial stiffness models.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.473-483
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• 2020

This paper examines the vertical stress change concentrated on mine pillar which occurs due to the stress disturbance from opening excavation at room and pillar mine by FLAC3D, a finite difference method (FDM) software. The mesh size combination is decided with a careful consideration of relative error and run-time, then its performance is verified. A series of numerical analyses is conducted and the vertical stress at central pillar was observed for the test cases of 1×1 to 11×11 mine pillars, 40 m to 320 m depth with 40 m difference. The results show that the vertical stress of pillar approaches to the similar value with the value estimated by tributary area theory(TAT) when the development area (N_P) is increased or the height of overburden (H_OB) is decreased, while it is overestimated in the opposite case. Furthermore, it also represents that the vertical stress factor (VSF) converges to a specific value when the depth is increased whille keeping the development area identical.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.297-307
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• 2014

Cavern Thermal Energy Storage system stores thermal energy in caverns to recover industrial waste heat or avoid the sporadic characteristics of renewable-energy resources, and its advantages include high injection-and-extraction powers and the flexibility in selecting a storage medium. In the present study, the structural stability of rock mass pillar between these silo-type storage caverns was assessed using a coupled thermal-mechanical model in $FLAC^{3D}$. The results of numerical simulations showed that thermal stresses due to long-term storage depended on pillar width and had significant effect on the pillar stability. A sensitivity analysis of main factors indicated that the influence on the pillar stability increased in the order cavern depth < pillar width < in situ condition. It was suggested that two identical caverns should be separated by at least one diameter of the cavern and small-diameter shaft neighboring the cavern should be separated by more than half of the cavern diameter. Meanwhile, when the line of centers of two caverns was parallel to the direction of maximum horizontal principal stress, the shielding effect of the caverns could minimize an adverse effect caused by a large horizontal stress.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 2023

Recently, as the development of underground spaces has become active due to rapid urbanization and population density, interest in the ground behavior according to the construction of underground spaces is increasing. In large cities with high population density and many buildings, ground subsidence has a great impact on structures and there may be a risk of collapse, so the analysis of ground behavior due to underground construction is essential. Previous studies have been conducted on the subsidence pattern of the surface and the deformation of the tunnel when constructing the tunnel, but analysis has rarely been conducted by using actual topographic information. Therefore, this study analyzed the difference in ground behavior between the actual topography and the flat topography. As a result, it was confirmed that ground settlement occurs at higher elevations, such as in mountainous topography, and when the numerical analysis is performed considering topographical information, the crown settlement of the tunnel is up to about approx. It showed a difference of 10 mm, and it was found that the sensitivity was less in the case of displacement of tunnel wall compared to the crown settlement and ground settlement. The numerical analysis considering the actual GIS-based topographic information presented in this study can be used to obtain more accurate surface subsidence data to understand the behavior of the upper structure due to tunnel excavation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.195-200
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• 2000

Numerical analysis using FLACSD has been conducted to estimate the stability of a large underground hall that is to be excavated in a mined area and constructed as an unit of a resort park. Numerical modelling is divided into two stages. The first stage is related to the analysis of the mechanical stability of the hall itself and the second to that of the influence of an adjacent mined cavity upon the hall. In the first stage, the stability of the hall is judged from the interpretation of numerical results in three respects: convergence of the unbalanced force of the model, occurrence of plastic zones and distribution of the displacement. In the second stage, variation of the stress state around the underground hall due to the existence of the cavity is compared to that in the case of the absence of the cavity. Through these analyses, it could be known that the large underground hall is not exposed to any mechanical problems and also not affected by the adjacent cavity. Key words : 3D numerical analysis, large underground cavern, stability analysis

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2016

In this paper, we perform a numerical analysis to evaluate the potential of fault reactivation during gas production from hydrate bearing sediments and the moment magnitude of induced seismicity. For the numerical analysis, sequential coupling of TOUGH+Hydrate and FLAC3D was used and the change in effective stress and consequent geomechanical deformation including fault reactivation was simulated by assuming that Mohr-Coulomb shear resistance criterion is valid. From the test production simulation of 30 days, we showed that pore pressure reduction as well as effective stress change hardly induces the fault reactivation in the vicinity of a production well. We also investigated the influence of stress state conditions to a fault reactivation, and showed that normal fault stress regime, where vertical stress is relatively greater than horizontal, may have the largest potential for the reactivation. We tested one simulation that earthquake can be induced during gas production and calculated the moment magnitude of the seismicity. Our calculation presented that all the magnitudes from the calculation were negative values, which indicates that induced earthquakes can be grouped into micro-seismic and as small as hardly perceived by human beings. However, it should be noted that the current simulation was carried out using the highly simplified geometric model and assumptions such that the further simulations for a scheduled test production and commercial scale production considering complex geometric conditions may produce different results.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.442-453
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• 2013

A large-scale high-temperature thermal energy storage(TES) was numerically modeled and the heat loss through storage tank walls was analyzed using a commercial code, FLAC3D. The operations of rock cavern type and above-ground type thermal energy storages with identical operating condition were simulated for a period of five consecutive years, in which it was assumed that the dominant heat transfer mechanism would be conduction in massive rock for the former and convection in the atmosphere for the latter. The variation of storage temperature resulting from periodic charging and discharging of thermal energy was considered in each simulation, and the effect of insulation thickness on the characteristics of heat loss was also examined. A comparison of the simulation results of different storage models presented that the heat loss rate of above-ground type TES was maintained constant over the operation period, while that of rock cavern type TES decreased rapidly in the early operation stage and tended to converge towards a certain value. The decrease in heat loss rate of rock cavern type TES can be attributed to the reduction in heat flux through storage tank walls followed by increase in surrounding rock mass temperature. The amount of cumulative heat loss from rock cavern type TES over a period of five-year operation was 72.7% of that from above-ground type TES. The heat loss rate of rock cavern type obtained in long-period operation showed less sensitive variations to insulation thickness than that of above-ground type TES.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.168-185
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• 2015

The thermal-hydrological-mechanical (T-H-M) behavior of rock mass surrounding a large-scale high-temperature cavern thermal energy storage (CTES) at a shallow depth has been investigated, and the effects of hydrological conditions such as water table and rock permeability on the behavior have been examined. The liquid saturation of ground water around a storage cavern may have a small impact on the overall heat transfer and mechanical behavior of surrounding rock mass for a relatively low rock permeability of $10^{-17}m^2$. In terms of the distributions of temperature, stress and displacement of the surrounding rock mass, the results expected from the simulation with the cavern below the water table were almost identical to that obtained from the simulation with the cavern in the unsaturated zone. The heat transfer in the rock mass with reasonable permeability ${\leq}10^{-15}m^2$ was dominated by the conduction. In the simulation with rock permeability of $10^{-12}m^2$, however, the convective heat transfer by ground-water was dominant, accompanying the upward heat flow to near-ground surface. The temperature and pressure around a storage cavern showed different distributions according to the rock permeability, as a result of the complex coupled processes such as the heat transfer by multi-phase flow and the evaporation of ground-water.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.343-354
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• 2008

A new method is suggested herein to measure the virgin earth stresses by means of a borehole. This novel concept is basically a combination of borehole stress relieving and borehole fracturing techniques. The destressing of the borehole is achieved by means of inducing thermal tensile stresses at the borehole periphery by using a cryogenic fluid such as Liquid Nitrogen($LN_2$). The borehole wall eventually develops fractures when the induced thermal stresses exceed the existing compressive stresses at the borehole periphery in addition to the tensile strength of the rock. The above concept is theoretically analyzed for its potential applicability to interpret in situ stress levels from the tensile fracture stresses and the corresponding borehole wall temperatures. Coupled thermo-mechanical numerical simulations are also conducted using FLAC3D, with thermal option, to check the validity of the proposed techniques. From the preliminary theoretical and numerical analysis, the method suggested for the measurement of in situ stresses appears to be capable of accurate estimation of the virgin stresses by monitoring tensile crack formation at a borehole wall and recording the wall temperatures at the time of crack initiation.