• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.175-186
• /
• 2023

The buffer materials in disposal hole are exposed to the decay heat from spent nuclear fuels and groundwater inflow through adjacent rockmass. Since understanding of thermal-hydro-mechanical-chemical (T-H-M-C) interaction in buffer material is crucial for predicting their long-term performance and safety of disposal repository, it is necessary to investigate the heating-hydration characteristics and consequent T-H-M-C behavior of the buffer materials under disposal conditions considering geochemical factors. In response, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute developed a laboratory-scale 'Lab.THMC' experiment system, which characterizes the T-H-M behavior of buffer materials under different geochemical conditions by analyzing heating-hydration process and stress changes. This technical report introduces the detail design of the Lab.THMC system, summarizes preliminary experimental results, and outlines future research plans.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.419-431
• /
• 2021

In Seoul, it has been confirmed that the duration of rainfall is shortened and the frequency and intensity of heavy rains are increasing with a changing climate. In addition, due to high population density and urbanization in most areas, floods frequently occur in flood-prone areas for the increase in impermeable areas. Furthermore, the Seoul City is pursuing various projects such as structural and non-structural measures to resolve flood-prone areas. A disaster prevention performance target was set in consideration of the climate change impact of future precipitation, and this study conducted to reduce the overall flood damage in Seoul for the long-term. In this study, 29 GCMs with RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were used for spatial and temporal disaggregation, and we also considered for 3 research periods, which is short-term (2006-2040, P1), mid-term (2041-2070, P2), and long-term (2071-2100, P3), respectively. For spatial downscaling, daily data of GCM was processed through Quantile Mapping based on the rainfall of the Seoul station managed by the Korea Meteorological Administration and for temporal downscaling, daily data were downscaled to hourly data through k-nearest neighbor resampling and nonparametric temporal detailing techniques using genetic algorithms. Through temporal downscaling, 100 detailed scenarios were calculated for each GCM scenario, and the IDF curve was calculated based on a total of 2,900 detailed scenarios, and by averaging this, the change in the future extreme rainfall was calculated. As a result, it was confirmed that the probability of rainfall for a duration of 100 years and a duration of 1 hour increased by 8 to 16% in the RCP4.5 scenario, and increased by 7 to 26% in the RCP8.5 scenario. Based on the results of this study, the amount of rainfall designed to prepare for future climate change in Seoul was estimated and if can be used to establish purpose-wise water related disaster prevention policies.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.394-405
• /
• 2011

In this paper, we applied coupled non-isothermal, multiphase fluid flow and geomechanical numerical modeling using TOUGH-FLAC coupled analysis to study the complex thermodynamic and geomechanical performance of underground lined rock caverns (LRC) for compressed air energy storage (CAES). Mechanical stress in concrete linings as well as pressure and temperature within a storage cavern were examined during initial and long-term operation of the storage cavern for CAES. Our geomechanical analysis showed that effective stresses could decrease due to air penetration pressure, and tangential tensile stress could develop in the linings as a result of the air pressure exerted on the inner surface of the lining, which would result in tensile fracturing. According to the simulation in which the tensile tangential stresses resulted in radial cracks, increment of linings' permeability and air leakage though the linings, tensile fracturing occurred at the top and at the side wall of the cavern, and the permeability could increase to $5.0{\times}10^{-13}m^2$ from initially prescribed $10{\times}10^{-20}m^2$. However, this air leakage was minor (about 0.02% of the daily air injection rate) and did not significantly impact the overall storage pressure that was kept constant thanks to sufficiently air tight surrounding rocks, which supports the validity of the concrete-lined underground caverns for CAES.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2019

GGBFS(Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag), one of the representative concrete mineral admixtures, improves the long-term durability and engineering performance of concrete by latent hydraulic activity. In this study, considering 3 levels of W/B(0.37, 0.42, 0.47) and GGBFS replacement ratio(0 %, 30 %, 50 %), durability performances for chloride attack are evaluated, and equations which predict behavior of accelerated chloride diffusion are proposed. Also, the relationship between accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient and passed charge is evaluated. In target curing day, accelerated chloride diffusion tests(Tang's method, ASTM C 1202) and compressive strength(KS F 2405) are performed. In the 730 day's results of accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient, GGBFS concrete has up to 28 % of decreasing ratio compared to OPC concrete, and in those of passed charge, GGBFS concrete has up to 29 % of decreasing ratio compared to OPC concrete. Also, it is deemed that the impact of variation of W/B is less in GGBFS concrete than in OPC concrete. The equations which predict accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient and passed charge are drawn, based on the characteristics of mixture and test results. The equation which predicts passed charge shows slightly higher coefficient of determination than that which predicts accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.55 no.7
• /
• pp.545-556
• /
• 2022

It is recommended to use long-term hydrometeorological data for more than the service life of the hydraulic structures and water resource planning. For the purpose of expanding rainfall data, stochastic simulation models, such as Modified Bartlett-Lewis Rectangular Pulse (BLRP) and Neyman-Scott Rectangular Pulse (NSRP) models, have been widely used. The optimal parameters of the model can be estimated by repeatedly comparing the statistical moments defined through a combination of parameters of the probability distribution in the optimization context. However, parameter estimation using relatively small observed rainfall statistics corresponds to an ill-posed problem, leading to an increase in uncertainty in the parameter estimation process. In addition, as shown in previous studies, extreme values are underestimated because objective functions are typically defined by the first and second statistical moments (i.e., mean and variance). In this regard, this study estimated the parameters of the NSRP model using the objective function with the third moment and compared it with the existing approach based on the first and second moments in terms of estimation of extreme rainfall. It was found that the first and second moments did not show a significant difference depending on whether or not the skewness was considered in the objective function. However, the proposed model showed significantly improved performance in terms of estimation of design rainfalls.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.47-56
• /
• 2020

In this study, three levels of W/B(Water to Binder) ratio (0.37, 0.42, 0.47) and substitution ratio of GGBFS (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag) rate (0 %, 30 %, 50 %) were considered to perform RCPT (Rapid Chloride Diffusion Test) at the 1,095 aged day. Accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient and passed charge of each concrete mixture were assessed according to Tang's method and ASTM C 1202, and improving behaviors of durability performance with increasing aged days are analyzed based on the test results of previous aged days from the preceding study. As the age of concrete increases, the passed charge and diffusion coefficient have been significantly reduced, and especially the concrete specimens containing GGBFS showed a significantly more reduction than OPC(Ordinary Portland Cement) concrete specimen by latent hydraulic activity. In the case of OPC concrete's results of passed charge, at the 1,095 days, two of them were still in the "Moderate" class. So, if only OPC is used as the binder of concrete, the resistance performance for chloride attack is weak. In this study, the time-parameters (m) were derived based on the results of the accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient, and the deterministic and probabilistic analysis for service life were performed by assuming the design variable as a probability function. For probabilistic service life analysis, durability failure probabilities were calculated using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to evaluate service life. The service life of probabilistic method were lower than that of deterministic method, since the target value of PDF (Probability of Durability Failure) was set very low at 10 %. If the target value of PDF suitable for the purpose of using structure can be set and proper variability can be considered for each design variable, it is believed that more economical durability design can be made.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.587-609
• /
• 2019

Short-and long-term stabilities of bentonite, favored material as buffer in geological repositories for high-level waste were reviewed in this paper in addition to alternative design concepts of buffer to mitigate the thermal load from decay heat of SF (Spent Fuel) and further increase the disposal efficiency. It is generally reported that the irreversible changes in structure, hydraulic behavior, and swelling capacity are produced due to temperature increase and vapor flow between $150{\sim}250^{\circ}C$. Provided that the maximum temperature of bentonite is less than $150^{\circ}C$, however, the effects of temperature on the material, structural, and mineralogical stability seems to be minor. The maximum temperature in disposal system will constrain and determine the amount of waste to be disposed per unit area and be regarded as an important design parameter influencing the availability of disposal site. Thus, it is necessary to identify the effects of high temperature on the performance of buffer and allow for the thermal constraint greater than $100^{\circ}C$. In addition, the development of high-performance EBS (Engineered Barrier System) such as composite bentonite buffer mixed with graphite or silica and multi-layered buffer (i.e., highly thermal-conductive layer or insulating layer) should be taken into account to enhance the disposal efficiency in parallel with the development of multilayer repository. This will contribute to increase of reliability and securing the acceptance of the people with regard to a high-level waste disposal.