• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.309-332
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• 2021

Natural barrier systems surrounding the geological repository for the high-level radioactive waste should guarantee the hydraulic performance for preventing or delaying the leakage of radionuclide. In the case of the behavior of a crystalline rock, the hydraulic performance tends to be decided by the existence of discontinuities, so the coupled hydro-mechanical(HM) processes on the discontinuities should be characterized. The discontinuum modelling can describe the complicated behavior of discontinuities including creation, propagation, deformation and slip, so it is appropriate to model the behavior of a crystalline rock. This paper investigated the coupled HM processes in discontinuum modelling such as UDEC, 3DEC, PFC, DDA, FRACOD and TOUGH-UDEC. Block-based discontinuum methods tend to describe the HM processes based on the fluid flow through the discontinuities, and some methods are combined with another numerical tool specialized in hydraulic analysis. Particle-based discontinuum modelling describes the overall HM processes based on the fluid flow among the particles. The discontinuum methods that are currently available have limitations: exclusive simulations for two-dimension, low hydraulic simulation efficiency, fracture-dominated fluid flow and simplified hydraulic analysis, so it could be improper to the modelling the geological repository. Based on the concepts of various discontinuum modelling compiled in this paper, the advanced numerical tools for describing the accurate coupled HM processes of the deep geological repository should be developed.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2023

Lab-on-a-disc is a circular disc shape of cartridge that can be used for blood-based liquid biopsy to diagnose an early stage of cancer. Currently, liquid biopsies are regarded as a time-consuming process, and require sophisticated skills to precisely separate cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) floating in the bloodstream for accurate diagnosis. However, by applying the lab-on-a-disc to liquid biopsy, the entire process can be operated automatically. To do so, the lab-on-a-disc should be designed to prevent blood leakage during the centrifugation, transport, and dilution of blood inside the lab-on-a-disc in the process of liquid biopsy. In this study, the main components of lab-on-a-disc for liquid biopsy are fabricated by injection molding for mass production, and ultrasonic welding is employed to ensure the bonding strength between the components. To guarantee accurate ultrasonic welding, the flatness of the components is optimized numerically by using the response surface methodology with four main injection molding processing parameters, including the mold & resin temperatures, the injection speed, and the packing pressure. The 27 times finite element analyses using Moldflow® reveal that the injection time and the packing pressure are the critical factors affecting the flatness of the components with an optimal set of values for all four processing parameters. To further improve the flatness of the lab-on-a-disc components for stable mass production, a quarter-disc shape of lab-on-a-disc with a radius of 75 mm is used instead of a full circular shape of the disc, and this significantly decreases the standard deviation of flatness to 30% due to the reduced overall length of the injection molded components by one-half. Moreover, it is also beneficial to use a quarter disc shape to manage the deviation of flatness under 3 sigma limits.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.73-82
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• 2023

In this study, the optimal method for injection of neutralizer to restraint the leakage of acid drainage in embankment structure composed of pyrite rocks is proposed. Finite Element Analysis was performed to examine the seepage effect caused by injection of neutralizer into the embankment structure. The diameter of the neutralizer injection hole was selected as 50cm, the interval space of injection ranged from 1m to 4m and the injecting pressure ranged from 100kPa to 220 kPa were applied for the numerical analysis. According to the analysis results, the saturation time of the whole embankment structure was shown to be fast at a relatively low injecting pressure in the case of injecting interval space of 1.0m and injecting pressure of 130kPa and in the case of injecting interval space of 2.0m and injecting pressure of 160kPa. When the interval space of injection for saturation of whole embankment structure is selected as 3m, various injection pressures can be applied from 130kPa to 190kPa, and the saturation time of whole embankment is similar regardless of the injection pressure. Therefore, the optimal method for injection of neutralizer considering economic efficiency was selected as injecting interval space of 3.0m and injection pressure of 130kPa.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.63-75
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• 2024

Drinking water is an essential element to ensure the basic human right to live, and the quality of clean water must always be ensured. However, domestic water facilities, which were installed intensively in the early 2000s, are deteriorating. The accidents such as discoloration of water such as chromaticity and turbidity as well as leakage of substances frequently occur. However, since it is virtually impossible to replace all water pipes, the detailed standards for maintenance of water pipe network facilities established in 2021 require water pipe cleaning. The swab pig method, one of the water pipe cleaning methods, is a method of physically removing substances in pipes and is evaluated as having the highest cleaning efficiency. However, Swab is highly likely to be damaged or deformed during the cleaning process, and may even be lost. Therefore, in this study, the material of the pig was changed to a material with high compressibility, and it was made as close as possible to the inner wall of the water pipe. And, to maximize cleaning efficiency, a rotation swab pig with a rotation blade was developed. In addition, high-strength wire and winding equipment were additionally developed to eliminate the possibility of loss and to determine the location of the pig. The inlet and outlet are connected with wires, and after verifying the performance of each detailed technology, the technology was applied on a test bed with a 30m section. As a result of the application, the performance of the technology was verified by measuring the process time and evaluating applicability.