• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.109-117
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• 2014

Using the finite element analysis model presented in accompanying paper, parametric study was performed in this paper. Various parameters were considered such as the width of wheel loads-induced permanent plastic deformation, backfill, equivalent thickness and orthogonal characteristic of steel mats. The effects of these parameters were analyzed for vertical and rotational displacements, maximum moment and tensile stress. From the parametric studies, it is found that great vertical deflection and tensile stress above allowable flexural tensile strength are developed in steel mats by the wheel loads-induced permanent plastic deformation. Backfill or increasing the thickness of steel mats is a feasible solution on this problem.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.31-38
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• 2015

Recently, the participation on the development of the natural gas pipeline in Russia as well as the recent construction of the second Korean Antarctic research station, the Jangbogo station provide the research interests on the behavior of the permafrost ground. To investigate the effect of fines on the mechanical responses of frozen sands, unconfined compression tests were performed on the frozen sands with 0, 5, 10 and 15% of fine contents at -5, -10 and $-15^{\circ}C$. The poorly graded (SP) Joomunjin sand and kaolinite, silt with low plasticity (ML) were used for the preparation of the frozen soil specimens. The mechanical responses of the tested soils were investigated via unconfined compression tests in the temperature controlled laboratory and analyzed in terms of peak unconfined compressive strength and secant modulus at 50% of the peak strength. As the fine contents increase, the unfrozen water contents increase and thus the strength and stiffness of frozen soils decrease. The increment of the stiffness and strength due to the temperature decrease vary with the fine contents.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.282-291
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• 2022

Background: The Arctic permafrost stores enormous amount of carbon (C), about one third of global C stocks. However, drastically increasing temperature in the Arctic makes the stable frozen C stock vulnerable to microbial decomposition. The released carbon dioxide from permafrost can cause accelerating C feedback to the atmosphere. Soil organic matter (SOM) composition would be the basic information to project the trajectory of C under rapidly changing climate. However, not many studies on SOM characterization have been done compared to quantification of SOM stocks. Thus, the purpose of our study is to determine soil properties and molecular compositions of SOM in four different Arctic regions. We collected soils in different soil layers from 1) Cambridge Bay, Canada, 2) Council, Alaska, USA, 3) Svalbard, Norway, and 4) Zackenberg, Greenland. The basic soil properties were measured, and the molecular composition of SOM was analyzed through pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS). Results: The Oi layer of soil in Council, Alaska showed the lowest soil pH and the highest electrical conductivity (EC) and SOM content. All soils in each site showed increasing pH and decreasing SOC and EC values with soil depth. Since the Council site was moist acidic tundra compared to other three dry tundra sites, soil properties were distinct from the others: high SOM and EC, and low pH. Through the py-GC/MS analysis, a total of 117 pyrolysis products were detected from 32 soil samples of four different Arctic soils. The first two-axis of the PCA explained 38% of sample variation. While short- and mid-hydrocarbons were associated with mineral layers, lignins and polysaccharides were linked to organic layers of Alaska and Cambridge Bay soil. Conclusions: We conclude that the py-GC/MS results separated soil samples mainly based on the origin of SOM (plants- or microbially-derived). This molecular characteristics of SOM can play a role of controlling SOM degradation to warming. Thus, it should be further investigated how the SOM molecular characteristics have impacts on SOM dynamics through additional laboratory incubation studies and microbial decomposition measurements in the field.

• 한국석유지질학회:학술대회논문집
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• spring
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• pp.56-65
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• 1998

Methane hydrate is ice-like solid compound consisting of mainly methane and water, and is stable under specific low temperature and high pressure conditions (HSZ : methane hydrate stability zone) that occurs in permafrost regions and in the ocean floor sediments. Geophysical survey was implemented in the southern area of the East Sea, and the HSZ of the study area is determined by the temperature, pressure and local heat flow obtained from the survey and well data. In the study area, methane hydrates could exist in the sediments below the water depths of about $300{\cal}m$, and the base of HSZ is about 600m beneath the seafloor. The acoustically blanking zones in the sediment and phenomena of gas seepage were detected from the seismic section. These sediments have the sufficient physical condition for the formation of methane hydrate. The temperature and pressure conditions were experimentally measured for the dissociation of methane and propane hydrates in Pure water. Equilibrium conditions of methane and propane hydrates were obtained in the pressure range up to 19050Kpa and 401.3Kpa. Under same temperature condition, propane hydrate was dissociated at lower pressure than that of methane hydrate.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.67-80
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• 2014

The thickness of permafrost in Eastern Siberia is from 200 to 500 meters. The seasonally frozen layer can vary from 0 to 4m depending on ground temperature and its location. The shear wave velocity varies from 80m/s in summer to 1500m/s in winter depending on soil type. When melted, large impedence will occur due to the difference between the shear wave velocity of seasonally frozen soil and that of permafrost layer. Large displacement may occur at the boundary of the melted and the frozen layer, and this phenomenon should be considered in a seismic design. In this research, one-dimensional equivalent linear analyses were performed to investigate the effects of the seasonally frozen layer on ground amplification characteristics. Soil profiles of Yakutsk and Chara in Eastern Siberia were selected from geotechnical reports. 20 recorded ground motions were used to evaluate the effect of input motions. As the thickness of seasonally frozen layer and the difference in the shear wave velocity increases, the amplification is shown to increase. Peat, very soft organic soil widely distributed throughout Eastern Siberia, is shown to cause significant ground motion amplification. It is therefore recommended to account for its influence on propagated motion.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.57-66
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• 2014

The ground in cold region consists of active and permafrost layers. The active layer at the unstable state may cause ground corrosion and uplift, when the temperature of frozen ground increases due to seasonal changes. The thermosyphon is one of the stabilization methods to maintain the ground stability in the frozen ground. The thermosyphon is a closed two-phase convection device that extracts heat from the ground and discharges it into the atmosphere. In this study, ground freezing experiment using a thermosyphon and simulated ground with the isolation material was conducted to evaluate the thermal performance of the thermosyphon. In order to consider the thermal performance of the thermosyphon, commercial numerical program (TEMP/W) was adopted. Likewise, the thermal performance of thermosyphon and thermal properties of ground were applied in the numerical model. In a series of comparisons with experiment results and numerical study, thermal performance of thermosyphon can be evaluated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.17-25
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• 2017

Recently, the need of alternate energy resources is increasing due to the global warming issue. The natural gas buried in the extremely cold regions of Alaska and Siberia is of much interest these days. However, the construction standards are needed to be used in extremely cold regions. Particularly, more research work need to be carried out on the trench stability so that the safety of the workers is ensured and the damage to the construction machinery can also be reduced resulting in smaller construction period. In this study, the process for lowering of the pipelines of 30 and 40 in. diameters in the ground conditions (silt and peat) of Yakutsk, Russia was analyzed. The slopes of the ground surface were considered as $0^{\circ}$, $10^{\circ}$, and $20^{\circ}$ to be excavated in summer and winter. The analysis results show that the weight of pipelayer affects the trench stability. Numerical analysis was performed by considering the types of pipelayers, distance between the trench and pipelayer, and the distance between the pipelayers placed longitudinally along the trench. The results show that as the distance between the pipelayer and the trench decreases, the factor of safety of the slope decreases with an increase in the slope of the ground surface. When the slope of the ground surface was $20^{\circ}$, the breakout surface was anticipated to continue from the pipelayer to the trench boundary. In winter season, stability problem of the trench was not observed when the slope of the ground surface was less than $20^{\circ}$.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.97-107
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• 2014

Finite element modelling and analysis were conducted for the roll-type steel mats which were placed on loose sand and subjected to a standard truck wheel load in this study. The roll-type steel mats mean that the steel mats can be folded as a circle shape for the carrying to fields in cold regions where workability is limited and are developed for a rapid rehabilitation method for roadway across soft ground which is caused by thawing during the summer season in cold regions. The model is composed of link elements to simulate nonlinear behavior of connections between steel mats, thick shell elements to have flexural stiffness of the steel mats, and springs to simulate characteristics of foundation soils. The structural behaviors of the shell, link elements, and springs were verified at each modelling step through experiment and analysis. Beam and shell analysis without the link elements were conducted and compared to results obtained from the model presented in this study. Significant vertical displacement is shown in the shell model with hinge connections. Therefore, the results demonstrate that the analysis model for the roll-type steel mats on loose sand needs further detail parametric studies.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.550-559
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• 2014

Hydraulic performance of the 1 inch ball valve have been analyzed based on the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analysis and an experiment. The experimental test rig of the 1 inch ball valve has been developed to investigate pressure drop for the 1 inch ball valve. The numerical model, which has reliability and effectiveness, has been constructed through the grid dependency test and validation with the results of the experiment. Shear stress transport turbulence model has been used to enhance an accuracy of the turbulence prediction in the pipeline and ball valve, respectively. Effects of the ball valve angle on the flow characteristics and friction performance have been evaluated.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.652-655
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• 2005

Considering the fact that more than $97\%$ of fossil energy resources such as oil and natural gas needed in Korea rely on import, primary concern of the national economy is to secure future energy sources. Gas hydrates. which is non-conventional types of natural gas, distribute worldwide, especially in marine and permafrost Gas hydrates draw great attention recently as a new clean energy resources substituting conventional oil gas due to its presumed huge amount of volume reaching 10 trillion tons of gas and environmentally friendly characteristics. Results of preliminary survey by Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) and Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) showed that gas hydrates can be present in deep sea over 1,000m water depth in the East Sea. Gas hydrates can contribute to the rapidly increasing consumption of natural gas in Korea and achieve the self-support target by 2010 with $30\%$ of total natural gas demand. This study presents the potentialities and development prospects of gas hydrate as a future energy source.