• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.445-471
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• 2023

Long-term safety over millennia is the top priority consideration in the construction of disposal sites. However, ensuring the mechanical stability of deep geological repositories for spent fuel, a.k.a. radwaste, disposal during construction and operation is also crucial for safe operation of the repository. Imposing restrictions or limitations on tunnel support and lining materials such as shotcrete, concrete, grouting, which might compromise the sealing performance of backfill and buffer materials which are essential elements for the long-term safety of disposal sites, presents a highly challenging task for rock engineers and tunnelling experts. In this study, as part of an extensive exploration to aid in the proper selection of disposal sites, the anticipation of constructing a deep geological repository at a depth of 500 meters in an unknown state has been carried out. Through a review of 2D and 3D numerical analyses, the study aimed to explore the range of properties that ensure stability. Preliminary findings identified the potential range of rock properties that secure the stability of central and disposal tunnels, while the stability of the vertical tunnel network was confirmed through 3D analysis, outlining fundamental rock conditions necessary for the construction of disposal sites.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.101-122
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• 1997

A spiting reinforcement system is composed of a series of radially installed reinforcing spites along the perimeter of the tunnel opening ahead of excavation. The reinforcing spill network is extended into the in-situ soil mass both radially and longitudinally The sailing reinforcement system has been successfully used for the construction of underground openings to reinforce weak rock formations on several occasions. The application of this spiting reinforcement system is currently extended to soft ground tunneling in limited occasions because of lack of reliable analysis and design methods. A method of threetimensional limit equilibrium stability analysis of the smile-reinforced shallow tunnel in soft ground is presented. The shape of the potential failure wedge for the case of smile-reinforced shallow tunnel is assumed on the basis of the results of three dimensional finite element analyses. A criterion to differentiate the spill-reinforced shallow tunnel from the smile-reinforced deep tunnel is also formulated, where the tunnel depth, soil type, geometry of the tunnel and reinforcing spites, together with soil arching effects, are considered. To examine the suitability of the proposed method of threedimensional stability analysis in practice, overall stability of the spill-reinforced shallow tunnel at facing is evaluated, and the predicted safety factors are compared with results from twotimensional analyses. Using the proposed method of threetimensional limit equilibrium stability analysis of the smile-reinforced shallow tunnel in soft ground, a parametric study is also made to investigate the effects of various design parameters such as tunnel depth, smile length and wadial spill spacing. With slight modifications the analytical method of threeiimensional stability analysis proposed may also be extended for the analysis and design of steel pipe reinforced multi -step grouting technique frequently used as a supplementary reinforcing method in soft ground tunnel construction.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.331-343
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• 2017

In this study to improve stability, workability and economics of the H-Pile+Earth plate or H-Pile+Earth plate+Cutoff grouting currently in use, we had developed HCS method belonging to the retaining wall which is consisting of a combination H-Pile, Plastic Sheet Pile and Steel Square Pipe for gap maintenance and reinforcement of flexible plastic Sheet Pile, and the behavior of each member composing HCS method is investigated by three-dimensional finite element analysis. To numerically analyze the behavior of the HCS method, we have performed extensive three-dimentional finite element analysis for three kinds of plastic Sheet Pile size, two kinds of H-Pile size and three kinds of H-Pile installation interval, one kinds of Steel Square Pipe and three kinds of Steel Square Pipe installation interval. After analyzing the numerical results, we found that the combinations of $P.S.P-460{\times}131.5{\times}7t$ (PS7) and H-Pile $250{\times}250{\times}9{\times}14$ (H250), $P.S.P473{\times}133.5{\times}9t$ (PS9) and H-Pile $300{\times}200{\times}9{\times}14$ (H300) is the most economical because these combinations are considered to have a stress ratio (=applied stress/allowable stress) close to that as the stiffness of H-Pile, plastic Sheet Pile and Steel Square Pipe composite increased, the horizontal displacement of the retaining wall and the vertical displacement of the upper ground decreased. Especially, due to the arching effects caused by the difference in stiffness between H-Pile and plastic Sheet Pile, a large part of the earth pressure acting on plastic Sheet Pile caused a stress transfer to H-Pile, and the stress and displacement of plastic Sheet Pile were small. Through this study, we can confirm the behavior of each member constituting the HCS method, and based on the confirmed results of this study, it can be used to apply HCS method in reasonable, stable and economical way in the future.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.187-199
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• 2013

Umbrella arch method (UAM) used for improving the stability of the tunnel ground condition has been widely applied in the tunnel construction projects due to the advantage of obtaining both reinforcement and waterproof. The purpose of this study is to develop the evaluation technique of the integrity of bore-hole in UAM by using a non-destructive test and to evaluate the possibility of being applied to the field. In order to investigate the variations of frequency depending on grouted length, the specimens with different grouted ratios are made in the two constraint conditions (free boundary condition and embedded condition). The hammer impact reflection method in which excitation and reception occur simultaneously at the head of pipe was used. The guided waves generated by hitting a pipe with a hammer were reflected at the tip and returned to the head, and the signals were received by an acoustic emission (AE) sensor installed at the head. For the laboratory experiments, the specimens were prepared with different grouted ratios (25 %, 50 %, 75 %, 100 %). In addition, field tests were performed for the application of the evaluation technique. Fast Fourier transform and wavelet transform were applied to analyze the measured waves. The experimental studies show that grouted ratio has little effects on the velocities of guided waves. Main frequencies of reflected waves tend to decrease with an increase in the grouted length in the time-frequency domain. This study suggests that the non-destructive tests using guided ultrasonic waves be effective to evaluate the bore-hole integrity of the UAM in the field.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.543-560
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• 2018

With the increased development in downtown underground space facilities that vertically cross under a railway at a shallow depth, the demand for non-open cut method is increasing. However, most construction sites still adopt the pipe roof method, where medium and large diameter steel pipes are pressed in to form a roof, enabling excavation of the inside space. Among the many factors that influence the loosening region and loads that occur while pressing in steel pipes, the size of the pipe has the largest impact, and this factor may correspond to the magnitude of load applied to the underground structure inside the steel pipe roof. The super equilibrium method (SEM) has been developed to minimize ground disturbance and loosening load, and uses small diameter pipes of approximately 114 mm instead of conventional medium and large diameter pipes. This small diameter steel pipe is called an SEM pile. After SEM piles are pressed in and the grouting reinforcement is constructed, a crossing structure is pressed in by using a hydraulic jack without ground subsidence or heaving. The SEM pile, which plays the role of timbering, is a fore-poling pile of approximately 5 m length that prevents ground collapse and supports surface load during excavation of toe part. The loosening region should be adequately calculated to estimate the spacing and construction length of the piles and stiffness of members. In this paper, we conducted a comparative analysis of calculations of loosening load that occurs during the press-in of SEM pile to obtain an optimal design of SEM. We analyzed the influence of factors in main theoretical and empirical formulas applied for calculating loosening regions, and carried out FEM analysis to see an appropriate loosening load to the SEM pile. In order to estimate the soil loosening caused by actual SEM-pile indentation and excavation, a steel pipe indentation reduction model test was conducted. Soil subsidence and soil loosening were investigated quantitatively according to soil/steel pipe (H/D).

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.347-370
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• 2011

Slurry type shield would be very effective for the tunnelling in a sandy ground, when the slurry pressure would be properly adjusted. Low slurry pressure could cause a tunnel face failure or a ground settlement in front of the tunnel face. Thus, the stability of tunnel face could be maintained by applying an excess slurry pressure that is larger than the active earth pressure. However, the slurry pressure should increase properly because an excessively high slurry pressure could cause the slurry flow out or the passive failure of the frontal ground. It is possible to apply the high slurry pressure without passive failure if a horizontal impermeable layer is located in the ground in front of the tunnel face, but its location, size, and effects are not clearly known yet. In this research, two-dimensional model tests were carried out in order to find out the effect of a horizontal impermeable layer for the slurry shield tunnelling in a saturated sandy ground. In tests slurry pressure was increased until the slurry flowed out of the ground surface or the ground fails. Location and dimension of the impermeable layer were varied. As results, the maximum and the excess slurry pressure in sandy ground were linearly proportional to the cover depth. Larger slurry pressure could be applied to increase the stability of the tunnel face when the impermeable layer was located in the ground above the crown in front of the tunnel face. The most effective length of the impermeable grouting layer was 1.0 ~ 1.5D, and the location was 1.0D above the crown level. The safety factor could be suggested as the ratio of the maximum slurry pressure to the active earth pressure at the tunnel face. It could also be suggested that the slurry pressure in the magnitude of 3.5 ~4.0 times larger than the active earth pressure at the initial tunnel face could be applied if the impermeable layer was constructed at the optimal location.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2021

In Korea, many reservoirs have been built for the purpose of solving the food shortage problem and supplying agricultural water. However, the current 75.6% of the reservoirs are in serious aged as more than 50 years have passed since the year of construction. In the case of such an aging reservoir, the stability due to scour and erosion inside the reservoir is very reduced, and if concentrated rainfall due to recent abnormal weather occurs, the aging reservoir may collapse, leading to a lot of damage to property and human life. Accordingly, each agency that manages aging reservoirs uses Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as an injection material and applies the grouting method. However, in the case of OPC, it may deteriorate over time and water leakage may occur again. And there are environmental problems such as consumption of natural resources and generation of greenhouse gases. So, there is a need to develop new materials and methods that can replace the OPC. In this study, an laboratory test and analysis were performed on the grout material developed to induce a curing reaction similar to that of OPC by recycling power plant byproduct. In addition, test in the field such as electric resistivity survey, Standard Penetration Test (SPT), and field permeability test were performed to analyzed to reinforcement effect and determine the possibility of using instead of OPC. As a results of the test, in the case of recycled power plant byproduct, the compressive strength was 2.9 to 3.2 times and the deformation modulus was 2.3 to 3.3 times higher, indicating that it is excellent in strength and can be used instead of OPC. And it was analyzed that the N value of the reservoir was increased by 1~2, and the coefficient of permeability (k) decreased to the level of 8.9~42.5%. showing sufficient reinforcing effect in terms of order.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.117-133
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• 2010

A hybrid system of soil-nailing and compression anchor is proposed in this paper; the system is composed of an anchor bar (installed at the tip) with two PC strands and a steel bar. After drilling a hole, installing proposed hybrid systems, and filling the hole with grouting material, prestress is applied to the anchor bar to restrict the deformation at the head and/or to prevent shallow slope failures. However, since the elongation rate of PC strand is much larger than that of steel bar, yield at the steel bar will occur much earlier than at the PC strand. It means that the yield load of the hybrid system will be overestimated if we simply add yield loads of the two - anchor bar and PC strands. It might be needed to try to match the yielding time of the two materials by applying the prestress to the anchor bar. It means that the main purpose of applying prestress to the anchor bar should be two-fold: to restrict the deformation at the nail head; and more importantly, to maximize the design load of the hybrid system by utilizing load transfer mechanism that transfers the prestress applied at the tip to the head through anchor bar. In order to study the load transfer mechanism in a systematic way, in-situ pullout tests were performed with the following conditions: soil-nailing only; hybrid system with the variation of prestress stresses from 0 kN to 196 kN. It was found that the prestress applied to the anchor system will induce the compressive stress to the steel bar; it will result in decrease in the slope of load-displacement curve of the steel bar. Then, the elongation at which the steel bar will reach yield stress might become similar to that of PC strands. By taking advantage of prestress to match elongations at yield, the pullout design load of the hybrid system can be increased up to twice that of the soil-nailing system.