• Title/Summary/Keyword: Permafrost

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Effect of hydraulic distribution on the stability of a plane slide rock slope under the nonlinear Barton-Bandis failure criterion

  • Zhao, Lian-Heng;Cao, Jingyuan;Zhang, Yingbin;Luo, Qiang
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.391-414
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    • 2015
  • In this paper, stabilities of a plane slide rock slope under different hydraulic distributions were studied based on the nonlinear Barton-Bandis (B-B) failure criterion. The influence of various parameters on the stability of rock slopes was analyzed. Parametric analysis indicated that studying the factor of safety (FS) of planar slide rock slopes using the B-B failure criterion is both simple and effective and that the effects of the basic friction angle of the joint (${\varphi}_b$), the joint roughness coefficient (JRC), and the joint compressive strength (JCS) on the FS of a planar slide rock slope are significant. Qualitatively, the influence of the JCS on the FS of a slope is small, whereas the influences of the ${\varphi}_b$ and the JRC are significant. The FS of the rock slope decreases as the water in a tension crack becomes deeper. This trend is more significant when the flow outlet is blocked, a situation that is particularly prevalent in regions with permafrost or seasonal frozen soil. Finally, the work is extended to study the reliability of the slope against plane failure according to the uncertainty from physical and mechanics parameters.

CONNECTING EURASIA AND THE AMERICAS: EXTENSION OF THE HISTORICAL SILK ROAD AND ITS GEOPOLITICAL IMPLICATIONS

  • ERDEM, CAGRI
    • Acta Via Serica
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.133-162
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    • 2017
  • The Bering Strait crossing would link the entirety of Eurasia to the entirety of the Americas, and it can be seen as a natural extension of the historical Silk Road. There are some immense geopolitical benefits to such a project. It would bring about a profound and lasting change to the global economic and political outlook. The most valued function of the Bering Strait crossing and the extension of the associated railroad network would be to release the massive natural resources trapped underneath the tundra and permafrost for the benefit of Russia and the world. Moreover, the railroad project(s) would also build development corridors in those underdeveloped parts of the Russian Federation. The development of the resources and their rapid transportation to the global markets would contribute not only to the overall development of the region but also would be valuable for the resource-poor countries of Northeast Asia such as Japan, Korea, and China (relative to its economic size). This paper will explore the possible impact(s) of the Bering Strait crossing as a formidable infrastructure project for the economic development of the Russian Far East (RFE) from the Russian perspective under the frame of geopolitics. Furthermore, it will equally scrutinize the implications for the adjacent countries in the region.

Study on methane hydrate production using depressurization method (감압법을 이용한 메탄 하이드레이트 생산에 대한 연구)

  • Park, Sung-Seek;Kim, Nam-Jin
    • Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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    • v.30 no.1
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    • pp.34-41
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    • 2010
  • Gas hydrates are solid solutions when water molecules are linked through hydrogen bonding and create host lattice cavities that can enclose many kinds of guest(gas) molecules. There are plenty of methane(gas) hydrate in the earth and distributed widely at offshore and permafrost. Several schemes, to produce methane hydrates, have been studied. In this study, depressurization method has been utilized for the numerical model due to it's simplicity and effectiveness. IMPES method has been used for numerical analysis to get the saturation and velocity profile of each phase and pressure profile, velocity of dissociation front progress and the quantity of produced gas. The values calculated for the sample length of 10m, show that methane hydrates has been dissolved completely in approximately 223 minutes and the velocity of dissociation front progress is 3.95㎝ per minute. The volume ratio of the produced gas in the porous media is found to be about 50%. Analysing the saturation profile and the velocity profile from the numerical results, the permeability of each phase in porous media is considered to be the most important factor in the two phase flow propagation. Consequently, permeability strongly influences the productivity of gas in porous media for methane hydrates.

Reviews on Natural Resources in the Arctic: Petroleum, Gas, Gas Hydrates and Minerals

  • Yoon, Jong-Ryeol;Kim, Yea-Dong
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.51-62
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    • 2001
  • The Arctic consists of numerous sedimentary basins containing voluminous natural resources and two of the world's major oil and gas producing areas. The western Siberia Basin in the Arctic region has the largest petroliferous province with an area of 800 ${\times}$ 1,200 km and produces more than 60% of total Russian oil production. The North Slope of Alaska produces about 20% of the U.S. output, i.e., 11% of the total U.S. consumption. Being small compared to those regions, the Canadian Northwest Territories and the Pechora Basin in Russia produce only fair amount of oil and natural gas. There are also many promising areas in the northern continental shelf of Russia. In addition to Russia, Svalbard and Greenland have been investigated for oil and gas. Gas hydrates are widespread in both permafrost regions and arctic continental shelf areas. The reserves of gas hydrates in the Arctic Ocean are about 20${\sim}$32% of total estimated amounts of gas hydrates in the world ocean. Mineral mining is well developed, especially in Russia. The major centers are located around the Kuznetsk Basin and Noril'sk. They are major suppliers of gold, tin, nickel, copper, platinum, cobalt, iron ore, coal as well as apatite. There are also some minings of lead-zinc in Alaska and Arctic Canada.

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Experimental Study on the Internal Flow of a Ball Valve used for a Gas Pipeline (가스 파이프라인용 볼 밸브 내부유동의 실험적 연구)

  • KIM, CHUL-KYU;LEE, SANG-MOON;JANG, CHOON-MAN
    • Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.311-317
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    • 2016
  • This paper presents the flow characteristics of a ball valve used for a gas pipeline. Understanding of the internal flow of a ball valve is an important to analyze the physical phenomena of the valve. Present experimental study was performed by IEC 60534-2-3, the international standard for an industrial control valve testing procedure. Pressure measured at upstream and downstream of the valve, flow-rate and gas temperature passing the inside of the gas pipeline were measured with respect to valve opening rates. Throughout the experimental measurement of the ball valve, empirical equation of the pressure drop between the ball valve according to the mass flow rates is successively obtained using a polynomial curve fitting method. In addition, flow coefficient for determining the valve capacity is also analyzed with respect to valve opening rates using the curve fitting method.

[ $CO_2$ ] Sequestration on Various Structures of Natural Gas Hydrate Layer for Effective Recovery of $CH_4$ Gas

  • Park, Young-June;Choi, Suk-Jeong;Shin, Kyu-Chul;Seol, Ji-Woong;Lee, Hu-En
    • 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2006.06a
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    • pp.410-411
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    • 2006
  • On the continental margins and in permafrost regions, natural gas, which has been expected to replace petroleum energy, exists In solid hydrate farm. World hydrate reserves Including natural gas are estimated at about twice as much as the energy contained In total fossil fuel reserves. Because of its vast quantities, the efficient recovery of natural gas from natural gas hydrate becomes the most important factor on evaluating the economic feasibility in the sense of commercialization. It has been noted that carbon dioxide, one of the well-known green house gases, possibly can be stored in the ocean floor as a carbon dioxide hydrate. If the natural gas hydrate could be converted into carbon dioxide hydrate, natural gas hydrate deposits would serve as energy sources as well as carbon dioxide storage sites in the deep ocean sediments. In this study, we first attempted to examine the real swapping phenomenon occurring between guest molecules and various structures of gas hydrate through spectroscopic identification such as NMR spectroscopy.

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The Analysis of Dissociation Properties According to Gas Hydrate Saturation and Depressurization Rate (가스하이드레이트 포화율 및 감압률에 따른 해리특성 분석)

  • An, Seung-Hee;Chon, Bo-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.54-59
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    • 2015
  • The gas hydrate of 10 trillion tons are buried under continental slope in the world(permafrost : 2%, marine continental slope: 98%), but technology for the the commercial gas recovery has not developed yet. There are normally four representative recovery methods: depressurization method, thermal stimulation method, inhibition injection method, and displacement method. This study focuses on change of dissociation time and gas production according to gas hydrate saturation rate and depressurization rate. It was found that the correlation between depressrization rate and dissociation time was like as $Y=0.0004X^2-0.499X+176.86$. It was also found that the bigger depressurization rate is, the better production is(methane gas is produced over 46.2% at depressurization rate 50% compared with 40%). However, on the contrary to this, it is presumed that gas production is decreased at 60% due to gas hydrate reformation.

Climate Change Concerns in Mongolia

  • Dagvadorj, D.;Gomboluudev, P.;Natsagdorj, L.
    • The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.47-54
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    • 2003
  • Climate of Mongolia is a driven force on natural conditions as well as socio-economic development of the country. Due to the precariousness of climate conditions and traditional economic structure, natural disasters, specially disasters of meteorological and hydrological origin, have substantial effect upon the natural resources and socio-economic sectors of Mongolia. Mongolia's climate is characterized by high variability of weather parameters, and high frequency and magnitude of extreme climate and weather events. During the last few decades, climate of the country is changing significantly under the global warning. The annual mean air temperature for the whole territory of the country has increased by $1.56^{\circ}C$ during the last 60 years,. The winter temperature has increased by $1.56^{\circ}C$. These changes in temperature are spatially variable: winter warming is more pronounced in the high mountains and wide valleys between the mountains, and less so in the steppe and Gobi regions. There is a slight trend of increased precipitation during the last 60 years. The average precipitation rate is increased during 1940-1998 by 6%. This trend is not seasonally consistent: while summer precipitation increased by 11 %, spring precipitation decreased by 17. The climate change studies in Mongolia show that climate change will have a significant impact on natural resources such as water resources, natural rangeland, land use, snow cover, permafrost as well as major economic activities of arable farming, livestock, and society (i.e. human health, living standards, etc.) of Mongolia. Therefore, in new century, sustainable development of the country is defined by mitigating and adaptation policies of climate change. The objective of the presentation is to contribute one's idea in the how to reflect the changes in climate system and weather extreme events in the country's sustainable development concept.

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Distribution Pattern of Deschampsia antarctica, a Flowering Plant Newly Colonized around King Sejong Station in Antarctica (남극 세종기지 주변에 새로이 정착한 현화식물 남극좀새풀 (Deschampsia antarctica)의 개체군 공간분포)

  • Kim, Ji-Hee;Chung, Ho-Sung
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.23-32
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    • 2004
  • As a baseline survey for long-term monitoring on environmental change around the Antarctic King Sejong Station, distribution pattern of Deschampsia antarctica Desv., a flowering plant newly colonized were investigated qualitatively and quantitatively in both austral summer 2002 and 2003. Dispersal of the seeds and vegetative leaves by skuas might lead to the colonization into this area from neighbors in Maxwell Bay. The pioneer populations were observed around ponds and a stream of the Sejong Point in January 2002, and the maximum dispersal area was four times expanded after a year. Most of the populations were formed on the stable and well-drained substrate, which consisted of moss carpet of Sanionia georgico-uncinata (65%) and pebbles (25%), while only a few young individuals were observed on the unstable and watertight silt-sandy area. Especially, S. georgico-uncinata was being effectively utilized as their primary substrate with the soft, coarse and water-contained leaves. Also the perennial mature plants of D. antarctica were mainly formed on the moss carpet rather than pebbles. A few individuals were grown on other mosses of Polytrichastrum alpinum, Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Pohlia cruda, and Conostomum magellanicum and on a liverwort of Cephaloziella varians. We expect that dispersal of D. antarctica and the following succession to grass field will be countinuously and dynamically proceeded in this area, with the characteristics of ecological niche against the initial moss populations, on the similar continuity of environmental conditions. The continuous observations are needed with establishment of database on environmental change of micro-habitats, e.g. the water content and nutrients of soil and the underground temperature and permafrost.

A Comparative Study on the Formation of Methane Hydrate Using Natural Zeolite and Synthetic Zeolite 5A (천연 제올라이트와 합성 제올라이트 5A를 이용한 메탄 하이드레이트의 생성에 대한 비교 연구)

  • Park, Sung-Seek;Park, Yun-Beom;Kim, Nam-Jin
    • New & Renewable Energy
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.24-32
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    • 2012
  • Natural gas hydrates have a high potential as the 21st century new energy resource, because it have a large amount of deposits in many deep-water and permafrost regions of the world widely. Natural gas hydrate is formed by physical binding between water molecule and gas mainly composed of methane, which is captured in the cavities of water molecules under the specific temperature and pressure. $1m^3$ methane hydrate can be decomposed to the methane gas of $172m^3$ and water of $0.8m^3$ at standard condition. Therefore, there are a lot of practical applications such as separation processes, natural gas storage transportation and carbon dioxide sequestration. For the industrial utilization of methane hydrate, it is very important to rapidly manufacture hydrate. However, when methane hydrate is artificially formed, its reaction time may be too long and the gas consumption in water becomes relatively low, because the reaction rate between water and gas is low. So in this study, hydrate formation was experimented by adding natural zeolite and Synthetic zeolite 5A in distilled water, respectively. The results show that when the Synthetic zeolite 5A of 0.01 wt% was, the amount of gas consumed during the formation of methane hydrate was higher than that in the natural zeolite. Also, the natural zeolite and Synthetic zeolite 5A decreased the hydrate formation time to a greater extent than the distilled water at the same subcooling temperature.