• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.3 s.62
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• pp.259-276
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• 2006

In rock mass subject to high in-situ stresses, the failure process of rock is dominated by the stress-induced fractures growing parallel to the excavation boundary. When the ratio of in situ stresses compared to rock strength is greater than a certain value, progressive brittle failure which is characterized by popping and spatting of rock debris occurs due to stress concentration. Traditional constitutive model like Mohr-Coulomb usually assume that the normal stress dependent frictional strength component and the cohesion strength component are constant, therefore modelling progressive brittle failure will be very difficult. In this study, a series of numerical analyses were conducted for surrounding rock mass near crude oil storage cavern using CW-FS model which was known to be efficient for modelling brittle failure and the results were compared with those of linear Mohr-Coulomb model. Further analyses were performed by varying plastic shear strain limits on cohesion and internal friction angle to find the proper values which yield the matching result with the observed failure in the oil storage caverns. The obtained results showed that CW-FS model could be a proper method to characterize essential behavior of progressive brittle failure in competent rock mass.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.11b
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• pp.245-252
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• 2005

An underground research facility (KURF) is under construction at KAERI for the in situ studies related to the validation of a HLW disposal system. For the safe construction and long-term researches at KURF, mechanical stability of the facility should be evaluated. In this study, 3D mechanical stability analysis using the rock mass properties determined from various in situ as well as laboratory tests was carried out. From the analysis, it was possible to predict the rock deformation, stress concentration, and plastic zone developed before and after the excavation. A test blasting was performed to characterize the site dependent dynamic response, which can be used for the prediction of the blasting impact on the facilities in KAERI.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.219-234
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• 1998

Modulus measurements in vertical boreholes under simulated horizontal in-situ stress conditions were performed on laboratory rock specimens. The experimental program was focused on the examination of modulus change with the variation of the orientation, magnitude and ratios of horizontal biaxial stresses. The experiment results show that the modulus increases when the magnitude of the horizontal stresses increases. The modulus measured in the minimum principal direction increased when the ratio between the horizontal principal stresses increased, while the modulus measured in the maximum principal direction decreased when the ratio of the horizontal principal stresses increased. These were caused by the tangential stresses that vary depending upon the magnitude of horizontal stresses, the applied pressure and the orientation of measurement. Also, the measured moduli were determined under tensile stress, compressive stress, or both stresses. Thus, the stress effect on deformation modulus should be considered, not only for the interpretation of the results of borehole deformability measurement, but also for the design of underground gas storage and pressure tunnel, and for the interpretation of tunnel monitoring.

• 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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.248-258
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• 2002

The sixth underground pumped powerhouse cavern is now under construction in Korea. For the stability analysis for the caverns of the five underground powerhouses, finite element method was used. For the analysis, in-situ rock stress were measured by overcoring method. The stress measurement showed that initial horizontal to vertical stress ratio was 1.07-1.32 in low powerhouse sites. Rock mass strength and elasticity were assumed from rock core properties through engineering processes. So the ratio of input elasticity fur the analysis were about 0.16-0.55 to rock core elasticity. In most of the analysis, elasto-plastic condition with Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria were applied. But in one case, viscoelastic condition was applied, too. The input cohesion and internal friction angle were approximately 0.12-0.22, 0.6-0.87 to rock core strength parameters, respectively.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.311-321
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• 2007

Failure of underground structures in hard rocks is a function of the in-situ stress, the intact rock strength and the distribution of fractures in the rock mass. At highly stressed regime, brittle failure is often observed due to excavation-induced stress. The characteristics of brittle failure are classified as failure grade, failure initiation stress, extent of failure and depth of failure. For safety construction of underground structures, these characteristics of brittle failure with stress conditions should be understood. In this study we evaluated the relationship between the extent and depth of failure with stress conditions for failure happened model specimens through true triaxial model experiments. The extent and depth of failure were determined using visual observation and computed tomography (CT). The results indicate that the depth of failure was affected by differential stress perpendicular to the axis of tunnel. However the extent of failure was irrelevant to the stress conditions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.2 s.55
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• pp.157-167
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• 2005

Current initial rock stress state is one of the key factors required to evaluate the stability and failure around an excavated opening and its importance increases as the construction depth become deeper and the scale of the rock structure become larger. In this paper, the study was performed to evaluate the characteristics of the regional stress state at Chuncheon-Yanggu mountainous region, the East-North part of Kyeonggi Massif. Forty nine field stress measurements in 9 boreholes were conducted at the depth from 20 m to 290 m by hydraulic fracturing method. The fracturing tracing works were carried out by acoustic televiewer scanning. The study results revealed that the different intial rock stress states presented at different formation rock type and the excessive horizontal stress state with stress ratio(K) close to 3.0 was measured at the depth of 200 m and deeper in the intrusive unite body of the study area. The results from the investigation of excessive horizontal stress and its effect on failure mode showed that there exist several points where the localized excessive horizontal stresses are big enough to potentially induce brittle failures around the future openings greater than 100 m in depth within the granite body of the study area.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.595-609
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• 2017

Due to high in-situ stress and brittleness of rock mass, the surrounding rock masses of underground caverns are prone to appear splitting failure. In this paper, a kind of loading-unloading variable elastic modulus model has been initially proposed and developed based on energy dissipation principle, and the stress state of elements has been determined by a splitting failure criterion. Then the underground caverns of Dagangshan hydropower station is analyzed using the above model. For comparing with the monitoring results, the entire process of rock splitting failure has been achieved through monitoring the splitting failure on side walls of large-scale caverns in Dagangshan via borehole TV, micro-meter and deformation resistivity instrument. It shows that the maximum depth of splitting area in the downstream sidewall of the main power house is approximately 14 m, which is close to the numerical results, about 12.5 m based on the energy dissipation model. As monitoring result, the calculation indicates that the key point displacement of caverns decreases firstly with the distance from main powerhouse downstream side wall rising, and then increases, because this area gets close to the side wall of main transformer house and another smaller splitting zone formed here. Therefore it is concluded that the energy dissipation model can preferably present deformation and fracture zones in engineering, and be very useful for similar projects.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.91-104
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• 2001

As in Korean environments with mountainous and hilly areas, the rock generally has to be removed in construction or civil engineering work in tunnelling or excavation for development in urban area. Explosives should be used for blasting, which may cause serious problems on local people for their claim for compensation due to ground vibration, noise. For safe and economic blasting, geology and engineering characteristics of rocks such as discontinuities of rock or weathering are very important factors, together with site characteristics for prediction of ground vibration. In this study, conducted were the detailed study for major rocks most widely distributed in the South-east area, in-situ geological survey, geological and geochemical analysis, and further laboratory uniaxial rock stress, seismic velocity of core samples together with in-situ seismic velocity measurements. Regulations on ground vibration and noise were reviewed for assessing their adaptabilities, and a total of 4,856 measured blasting vibration data were examined for enhancing the confidence level in estimating the predictive formulation using scaled distance statistically.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.494-505
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• 2006

In this study, using constant normal stiffness(CNS) direct shear tests, side shear load distribution were analyzed by the influencing parameters of unconfined compressive strength, surface roughness, confining stress, and material properties. Based on the CNS tests, side shear load transfer function of drilled shafts in rock is proposed using geological strength index(GSI), which indicates discontinuity and surface condition of rock mass in Hoek-Brown criterion. Though comparisons with results of nine drilled shafts's load tests, it is found that the load-transfer curve by this study is in good agreement with the general trend observed by in situ measurements, and thus represents a significant improvement in the prediction of bearing capacity of drilled shaft.