• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.344-354
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• 2000

The concrete plug in an underground cavern prevents the stored product (oil, gas, etc) from leaking and the excessive inflow of underground water, so it plays an important role in construction and operation of the storage cavern. Additionally, it should maintain its stability under every possible loading condition. Once the plug is constructed, the cavern is isolated from the external access. Therefore, mechanical and hydraulic consideration should be made in construction to fulfill its function. Therefore, in this study, numerical analyses were conducted to study the optimal shape and thickness of the plug with respect to the various conditions of installation depth, the shape of the plug, in-situ stress ratio (K), the condition of rock-plug interface, and the effect of Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ). This paper also presents the effect of slot depth on the hydraulic behavior of the plug. These analyses were carried out by using the 2-dimensional finite difference code, rm FLAC, and the 3D code, rm FLAC$\^$3D/.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.309-323
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• 2005

Dynamic stiffness of subsurface materials is one of the most important geotechnical parameters in predicting deformational behavior of structures as well as practicing seismic design and performance evaluation. In an effort to measure the parameter efficiently and accurately, various borehole seismic testing techniques have been, thus, developed and used during past several decades. Moreover, recent rush of underground-space projects and increasing size of structures put more stress on reliable site investigation techniques in estimating stiffness of rock mass. In this paper, a new technique called 'in-hole seismic test' has been implemented to measure the dynamic stiffness of rock masses at subsurface foundations and tunnel-faces. The reliance of in-hole seismic test was evaluated by comparing the testing results at several rock sites with those of other borehole techniques and the technique tunnls out to be an efficient and accurate in-situ testing technique.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.23-35
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• 2006

Shear load transfer characteristics of rock-socketed drilled shafts were analyzed. The constant normal stiffness (CNS) direct shear tests were performed to identify the major influencing factors of shaft resistance, i.e., unconfined compressive strength, borehole roughness, normal stiffness, initial confining stress, and material properties. Based on the CNS tests, shear load transfer function of drilled shafts in rocks is proposed using borehole roughness and the geological strength index (GSI), which indicates discontinuity and surface condition of rock mass in Hoek-Brown criterion (1997). The proposed load-transfer function was verified by the load test results of seven rock-socketed drilled test shafts subjected to axial loads. Through comparisons of the results of load tests, it is found that the load-transfer function by the present study is in good agreement with the general trend observed by in situ measurements, and thus represents a significant improvement in the prediction of load transfer of drilled shafts.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.17-30
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• 2009

Underground construction such as tunneling can induce damages on the surrounding rock mass, due to the stress concentration of in situ stresses and excessive energy input during construction sequence, such as blasting. The developed damage on the rock mass can have substantial influence on the mechanical and hydraulic behaviors of the rock masses around a tunnel. In this study, investigation on the generation of damage around an opening in a jointed rock model under biaxial compression condition was conducted. The joint dip angles employed are 30, 45, and 60 degrees to the horizontal, and the synthetic rock mass was made using early strength cement and water. From the biaxial compression test, initiation and propagation of tensile cracks at norm to the joint angle were found. The propagated tensile cracks eventually developed rock blocks, which were dislodged from the rock mass. Furthermore, the propagation process of the tensile cracks varies with joint angle: lower joint angle model shows more stable and progressive tensile crack propagation. The development of the tensile crack can be explained under the hypothesis that the rock segment encompassed by the joint set is subjected to the developing moment, which can be induced by the geometric irregularity around the opening in the rock model. The experiment results were simulated by using discrete element method PFC 2D. From the simulation, as has been observed from the test, a rock mass with lower joint angle produces wider damage region and rock block by tensile cracks. In addition, a rock model with lower joint angle shows progressive tensile cracks generation around the opening from the investigation of the interacted tensile cracks.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.237-274
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• 1995

This study was focused on the improvement of the measurement technique of P-wave velocity for the assesment of the anisotropy of the engineering property of rock. Samples used were collected from a working quarry within the Carnmenellis granite area on which series of engineering geological data have been accumulated. This study mainly concerned the development of measurement technique at the curved surface of rock, the use of natural honey-based coupling agent and the drying method for rock specimen over $P_2O_5$. According to the results, the range of the P-wave velocity anisotropy in two dimensional plane, fell between 0 and 4.68 (%). The direction where maximum velocity occurred was parallel to the orientation of the maximum in-situ stress. The result showed that P - wave velocity is a useful measure to asses the anisotropy of the engineering property of rock and it is suggested that the improvements adopted here can be applied to the experimental work on the rocks in Korea.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.2 s.67
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• pp.109-118
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• 2007

The excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is an area around an excavation where in situ rock mass properties, stress condition. displacement. groundwater flow conditions have been altered due to the excavation. Various studies have been carried out on EDZ, but most studies have been focused on the mechanical bahavior of EDZ by in situ experiment. Even though the EDZ could potentially form a high permeable pathway of groundwater flow, only a few studies were performed on the analysis of groundwater flow in EDZ. In this study, the' hydraulic EDZ' was defined as the rock Lone adjacent to the excavation where the hydraulic aperture has been changed due to the excavation. And hydraulic EDZ (hydraulic aperture changed zone) estimated by two-dimensional DEM program was considered in three-dimensional DFN model. From this approach the groundwater flow characteristics corresponding to hydraulic aperture change were examined. Together. a parametric study was performed to examine the boundary conditions that frequently used in DFN analysis such as constant head or constant flux condition. According to the numerical analysis, hydraulic aperture change induced by the hydraulic-mechanical interaction becomes one of the most important factors Influencing the hydraulic behavior of jointed rock masses. And also from this study, we suggest the proper boundary condition in three-dimensional DFN model.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.362-371
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• 2013

We conducted hollow cylinder tensile strength tests and Brazilian tests in Seokmo granite to measure tensile strength necessary for estimating the magnitude of the maximum horizontal principal stress in hydraulic fracturing stress measurements. Two different pressurization rates were used in hollow cylinder tests. Tensile strengths were determined to be higher at higher pressurization rate, which suggests that tensile strength should be measurement at the same rate used in actual in situ hydraulic fracturing tests. Considering the effect of pressurization rate and specimen size on tensile strength, the hollow cylinder tests and Brazilian tests yield similar results each other. This demonstrates that Brazilian tests can be utilized to produce representative tensile strengths for interpretation of hydraulic fracturing test results.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.209-222
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• 1996

Shut-in pressure, reopenting pressure and fracture orientation are very important parameters to be evaluated precisely in in-situ stress measurement by hydraulic fracturing. Graphical methods on pressure-time curves have been conventionally used, even though these are seriously dependent on subjectivity of interpreters. So there have been many demands on new method to objectivity in determining parameters. We have developed integrated hydrofracturing data processing program (HYDFRAC), based on nonlinear regression analysis and can be invoked under the Window graphical user interface. HYDFRAC consiste of three routines, that is shut-in pressure routine, reopening pressure routine, and fracture delineation routine. Each of routines include independent modules according to parameter determination methods. Its application to field tests ensured both objectivity and facility in determining of hydraulic fracturing parameters. Determining shut-in pressures at each pressurization cycles, we adopted the exponential pressure-decay method(EPD method), the bilinear pressure-decay-rate method (PDR method), and the tangent intersection method in order to find the pressurization-cyclic tendency of shut-in pressures. The estimated pressure by PDR method exists in the range of the upper and lower values by EPD method, and lies near to the upper value more than the lower. Being the pressurization cycle increased, the range of upper and lower limits come to be stabilized gradually. By graphical superposition method and bilinear pressure-accumulated volume method, reopening pressures were determined. Vertical and inclined fracture attitudes were determined by applying the directional statistics and sinusoidal curve fitting, respectively. The results of evaluation of hydrofracturing parameters showed that statistical methods could enhance the objectivity better than graphical methods.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.71-87
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• 2024

In deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, the surrounding rock at the immediate vicinity of the deposition hole may experience localized changes in permeability due to in-situ stress at depth, swelling pressure from resaturated bentonite buffer, and the heat generated from the decay of radioactive isotopes. In this study, experimental data on changes in permeability of granite, a promising candidate rock type in South Korea, were obtained by applying various confining pressures and temperature conditions expected in the actual disposal environment. By conducting the permeability test on KURT granite specimens under three or more hydrostatic pressure conditions, the relation in which the permeability decreases exponentially as the confining pressure increases was derived. The temperature-induced changes in permeability were found to be negligible at temperatures below the expected maximum of 90℃. In addition, by establishing a relation in which the initial permeability is proportional to the power of the initial porosity, it was possible to estimate permeability value for granite with a specific porosity under a certain confining pressure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.175-188
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• 2016

The construction of a new cavern modifies the state of stresses and displacements in a zone around the existing cavern. For multiple caverns, the size of this influence zone depends on the ground type, the in situ stress, the cavern span and shape, the width of the pillar separating the caverns, and the excavation sequence. Performances of underground twin caverns can be unsatisfactory as a result of either instability (collapse) or excessive displacements. These two distinct failures should be prevented in design. This study simulated the ultimate and serviceability performances of underground twin rock caverns of various sizes and shapes. The global factor of safety is used as the criterion for determining the ultimate limit state and the calculated maximum displacement around the cavern opening is adopted as the serviceability limit state criterion. Based on the results of a series of numerical simulations, simple regression models were developed for estimating the global factor of safety and the maximum displacement, respectively. It was proposed that a proper pillar width can be determined based on the threshold influence factor value. In addition, design charts with regard to the selection of the pillar width for underground twin rock caverns under similar ground conditions were also developed.