• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.481-495
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• 2015

Many hydropower stations in southwest China are located in regions of brittle rock mass with high geo-stresses. Under these conditions deep fractured zones often occur in the sidewalls of the underground caverns of a power station. The theory and methods of fracture and damage mechanics are therefore adopted to study the phenomena. First a flexibility matrix is developed to describe initial geometric imperfections of a jointed rock mass. This model takes into account the area and orientation of the fractured surfaces of multiple joint sets, as well as spacing and density of joints. Using the assumption of the equivalent strain principle, a damage constitutive model is established based on the brittle fracture criterion. In addition the theory of fracture mechanics is applied to analyze the occurrence of secondary cracks during a cavern excavation. The failure criterion, for rock bridge coalescence and the damage evolution equation, has been derived and a new sub-program integrated into the FLAC-3D software. The model has then been applied to the stability analysis of an underground cavern group of a hydropower station in Sichuan province, China. The results of this method are compared with those obtained by using a conventional elasto-plastic model and splitting depth calculated by the splitting failure criterion proposed in a previous study. The results are also compared with the depth of the relaxation and fracture zone in the surrounding rock measured by field monitoring. The distribution of the splitting zone obtained both by the proposed model and by the field monitoring measurements are consistent to the validity of the theory developed herein.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to propose a new approach for quantifying in situ rock mass damage, which would include a degree-of-damage and the degraded strength of a rock mass, along with its prediction based on real-time Acoustic Emission (AE) observations. The basic approach for quantifying in-situ rock mass damage is to derive the normalized value of measured AE energy with the maximum AE energy, called the degree-of-damage in this study. With regard to estimation of the AE energy, an AE crack source location algorithm of the Wigner-Ville Distribution combined with Biot's wave dispersion model, was applied for more reliable AE crack source localization in a rock mass. In situ AE wave attenuation was also taken into account for AE energy correction in accordance with the propagation distance of an AE wave. To infer the maximum AE energy, fractal theory was used for scale-independent AE energy estimation. In addition, the Weibull model was also applied to determine statistically the AE crack size under a jointed rock mass. Subsequently, the proposed methodology was calibrated using an in situ test carried out in the Underground Research Tunnel at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. This was done under a condition of controlled incremental cyclic loading, which had been performed as part of a preceding study. It was found that the inferred degree-of-damage agreed quite well with the results from the in situ test. The methodology proposed in this study can be regarded as a reasonable approach for quantifying rock mass damage.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.293-298
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• 1997

Permeability was not represented as a simple function of the difference between confining pressure($P_c$) and pore pressure($P_p$). The effective pressure($P_e$) for measurements of the permeability is shown to be $P_c-{\alpha}P_p$, where $\alpha$ is a coefficient of effective pressure. Local values of $\alpha$ were determined at intervals along the pressure path which range 25MPa to 55MPa. The values of $\alpha$ ranged 0.65 to 1.09 for Pocheon granite and 1.20 to 1.43 for Wonju granite. Also, the value of $\alpha$ calculated by the cross-plotting method was 0.90 for Pocheon granite, 1.59 for Wonju granite and 4.35 for jointed Pocheon granite. $\alpha$ was found to be stress-history dependent.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.617-635
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• 2012

In this study, correlations between the rock mass permeability before and after grouting & injection volume and the parameters of Q system were investigated on a grouted rock mass tunnel corresponding to rock class 4 and 5 in terms of Q classification system. As a result, it appears that the lower the Q value is, the higher the before-grouting permeability becomes and the smaller the injection volume of grouting becomes. Also RQD and Jn are the most influencing factors to the permeability of rock mass and the injection volume of grouting. In addition, it turned out that it was very difficult to lower the permeability of rock mass smaller than $1.0{\times}10^{-8}$ m/sec with the ordinary portland cement grout.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.671-683
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• 2017

Groundwater control is a significant issue in most underground construction. An estimate of the inflow rate is required to size the pumping system, and treatment plant facilities for construction planning and cost assessment. An estimate of the excavation-induced drawdown of the initial groundwater level is required to evaluate potential environmental impacts. Analytical and empirical methods used in current engineering practice do not adequately account for the effect of the jointed-rock-mass anisotropy and heterogeneity. The impact of geostructural anisotropy of fractured rocks on tunnel inflows is addressed and the limitations of analytical solutions assuming isotropic hydraulic conductivity are discussed. In this paper the unexcavated Zagros tunnel route has been classified from groundwater flow point of view based on the combination of observed water inflow and numerical modeling results. Results show that, in this hard rock tunnel, flow usually concentrates in some areas, and much of the tunnel is dry. So the remaining unexcavated Zagros tunnel route has been categorized into three categories including high Risk, moderately risk and low risk. Results show that around 60 m of tunnel (3%) length can conduit the large amount of water into tunnel and categorized into high risk zone and about 45% of tunnel route has moderately risk. The reason is that, in this tunnel, most of the water flows in rock fractures and fractures typically occur in a clustered pattern rather than in a regular or random pattern.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.215-230
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• 1993

In-situ rock mass demonstrates the variety of structural features, and especially the mechanical and spatial characteristics of joint (or joint system) greatly affect the deformation and fallure strength of the rock mass. In this study finite element model capable of analyzing the viscoplastic behavior of reinforced jointed rock mass has been developed based on equivalent material approach. Accuracy and reliability of the numerical model have verified by simuiating the behavior of simplified block model and comparing the results with analytic solutions. Practical applicability was also demonstrated by analyzing the time-dependent behavior of underground oil storage tunnel and assessing the reinforcement effect of rockbolt.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2017

In this paper, the effect of normal load on the failure mechanism of echelon joint has been studied using PFC2D. In the first step, calibration of PFC was undertaken with respect to the data obtained from experimental laboratory tests. Then, six different models consisting various echelon joint were prepared and tested under two low and high normal loads. Furthermore, validation of the simulated models were cross checked with the results of direct shear tests performed on non-persistent jointed physical models. The simulations demonstrated that failure patterns were mostly influenced by normal loading, while the shear strength was linked to failure mechanism. When ligament angle is less than $90^{\circ}$, the stable crack growth length is increased by increasing the normal loading. In this condition, fish eyes failure pattern occur in rock bridge. With higher ligament angles, the rock bridge was broken under high normal loading. Applying higher normal loading increases the number of fracture sets while dilation angle and mean orientations of fracture sets with respect to ligament direction will be decreased.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.387-394
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• 2000

This is study investigates the changes of subsidence and hydraulic conductivity by underground mining Coupling between post-mining induced strains and strain-dependent hydraulic conductivities is obtained by idealizing a jointed rock mass as an equivalent porous medium in which the hydraulic conductivity of a single joint is defined through parallel plate description. Results indicate that post-mining hydraulic conductivities are directly related to the strain field occurred by subsidence induced deformation. Maximum subsidence and hydraulic conductivity values increase as a panel width does widen. Joint spacing has an effect on the intensity of the changes in hydraulic conductivity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2019

Grout injection is mainly used for permeability reduction and/or improvement of the ground by injecting grout material into pores, cracks, and joints in the ground. The oscillatory grout injection method was developed to enhance the grout penetration. In order to verify the level of enhancement of the grout, field grout injection tests, both static and oscillatory tests, were performed at three job sites. The enhancement in the permeability reduction and ground improvement effect was verified by performing a core boring, borehole image processing analysis, phenolphthalein test, scanning electron microscopy analysis, variable heat test, Lugeon test, standard penetration test, and an elastic wave test. The oscillatory grout injection increased the joint filling rate by 80% more and decreased the permeability coefficient by 33-68%, more compared to the static grout injection method. The constrained modulus of the jointed rock mass was increased by 50% more with oscillatory grout injection compared to the static grout injection, indicating that the oscillatory injection was more effective in enhancing the stiffness of the rock mass.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.505-513
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• 2014

This paper investigated the effect of joint on the earth pressure against an excavation wall in rockmass with the consideration of various rock and joint conditions. For this purpose, this study briefly reviewed of the previous earth pressure studies, and then numerical parametric studies were conducted based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to overcome the limitations of the previous studies. The numerical tests were carried out with the controlled parameters including rock types and joint conditions (joint shear strength, joint inclination angle, and joint set), and the magnitude and distribution characteristics of the induced earth pressure were investigated considering the interactions between the ground and the excavation wall. In addition, the earth pressures induced in rock stratum were compared with Peck's earth pressure for soil ground. The results showed that the earth pressure against an excavation wall in jointed rockmass were highly affected by different rock and joint conditions and thus different from Peck's empirical earth pressure for soil ground.