• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.261-268
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• 2004

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the anisotropic characteristics of rocks and to evaluate the relationships between physical properties. A series of experiments were performed in three mutually perpendicular directions for three rock types, which are granite, granitic gneiss and limestone. The relationships of measured physical properties were evaluated. The results of ultrasonic wave velocity measurement show that granite of three rock types gives the largest directional difference, and that the wave velocity in a plane parallel to a transversely isotropic one is dominantly faster than that in a subvertical or vertical plane. It implies that ultrasonic wave velocity for rock could be used as a useful tool for estimating the degree of anisotropy. The ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to Brazilian tensile strength ranges approximately from 13 to 16 for granite. from 8 to 9 for granite gneiss, and from 9 to 18 for limestone. The directional differences for granite and granitic gneiss are very small, and on the other hand, is relatively large for limestone. It is suggested that strength of rock makes quite difference depending on the rock types and loading directions, especially for the anisotropic rocks such as transversely isotropic or orthotropic rocks. The ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to point load strength index ranges from 18 to 20 for granite, from 17 to 19 for granitic gneiss, and from 21 to 24 for limestone. These results show that point load strength index makes also a difference depending on rock types and directions. Therefore. it should be noted that the ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to point load strength index could be applied to all rock types. Uniaxial compressive strength shows relatively good relationship with point load strength index, Schmidt hammer rebound value, and tensile strength. In particulat, point load strength index is shown to be the best comparative relationship. It is indicated that point load test is the most useful tool to estimate an uniaxial compressive strength indirectly.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.144-154
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• 2015

Mechanical energy is accumulated in the object when stress is exerted on rock specimens, and the failure is occurred when the stress is larger than critical stress. The accumulated energy is emitted as various forms including physical deformation, light, heat and sound. Uniaxial compression strength test and point load strength test were carried out in low temperature environment, and thermal variation of rock specimens were observed and analyzed quantitatively using thermal infrared camera images. Temperature of failure plane was increased just before the failure because of concentration of stress, and was rapidly increased at the moment of the failure because of the emission of thermal energy. The variations of temperature were larger in diorite and basalt specimens which were strong and fresh than in tuff specimens which were weak and weathered. This study can be applied to prevent disasters in rock slope, tunnel and mine in cold regions and to analyze satellite image for predicting earthquake in cold regions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.145-150
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• 2011

Variations of physical properties such as weight loss rate, wave velocity and uniaxial compressive strength after performing freeze-thaw cyclic test were measured in order to define weathering characteristics of sandstone and andesite. Weight change in specimens of the two rocks decreased with increasing the repetition number of freeze-thaw cyclic test. In particular, weight loss of andesite specimens was very irregular. P-wave velocity of sandstone specimens decreased more than 5%. On the other hand, P-wave velocity of andesite specimens do not vary up to 500 cycles and decreased more than 5% after 1000 cycles. This implies that the sandstone are easily weakened and loosened by weathering processes, while the andesite are relatively strong. In addition, the wave velocity changes of the andesite specimens coincident with the weight change. Uniaxial compressive strengths of the sandstone specimens slightly decreased at the early stage of the freezing-thawing cyclic test, then tended to be irregular after 64 cycles. In conclusion, the rock specimens showed smaller weight loss, less had lower strength reduction rate.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.2 s.67
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• pp.83-89
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• 2007

Impact-echo test is a non-destructive testing method to determine dynamic properties of a material. This presentation introduces the experimental set-up and procedure of the test for rock specimens. In addition, the test results of domestic rocks collected in 5 different areas, a cement mortar and aluminium alloy are presented. The test results include resonance frequencies of P- and S-wave as well as damping ratios of the described 7 different materials. The differences between dynamic and static values of elastic moduli are about 10%, while the dynamic Poisson's ratios are greater than the static Poisson's ratios by at least 0.07. The damping ratio is dependent on the joint density and degree of weathering of a rock specimen.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.5-16
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• 2011

Digital image analysis techniques have been developed and utilized in the field of solid mechanics and fluid mechanics to measure the deformation and velocity of a target object. The deformation measurement systems based on Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) have been attempted in geotechnical testings (e.g., physical model tests) for observing the deformation of soils. The digital image analysis is influenced by image pattern of test materials, resolution of the used digital camera, target area, image analysis techniques, and analysis conditions. Therefore, optimal analysis conditions should be determined to obtain high quality results on soil deformations. In the present study, various influence factors on the digital image analysis were described and summarized. The optimizing procedure for high accurate results was then proposed. Finally, the applicability of the developed procedure was examined.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.180-191
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• 2013

The purpose of this research was to find an optimal quarrying for marble by analyzing the applicability and the work efficiency of a chain saw machine newly introduced in the underground Baekwoon mine. From the test results of the physical properties of Baekwoon marble, which affects the efficiency of rock cutting, it was found to have similar physical characteristics as the ones which are now being produced in the other areas in Korea. And especially it shows isotropic property, which can be thought to be advantageous as a dimensional stone. To check the long-term quality of the marble as a stone material, several tests such as corrosion resistance test and abrasion test were carried out. It was found to be vulnerable to acid rain with decrease of weight and seismic wave velocity after applying artificial rain at pH 5.6 for 50 times. The percentage of wear from abrasion test was 22.67%. The working time and cutting speed of the chain saw machine were recorded and analyzed during the test-run at the quarry. The overall work cycle was assorted into 9 unit operations and the operating time per each unit was drawn. The operating times for the two cutting patterns, which could be possibly applicable to the work site, were compared. The results indicated that the pattern B, that the cutting sequence was set to minimize the movement of the machine, showed 6% less working hours than the pattern A, which first cuts the outer boundary. With cutting pattern analysis, the ore body in the Baekwoon mine was 3 dimensionally modeled and a quarrying plan considering the existing conditions of the marble was suggested.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.97-115
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• 2024

In this paper, a database consisting of the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio test data of clay obtained from 406 groups of triaxial tests is constructed with the starting area of Xiong'an New Area as the research background. The aim is to study the nonlinear dynamic properties of clay in this area under cyclic loading. The study found that the effective confining pressure and plasticity index have certain influences on the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of clay in this area. Through data analysis, it was found that there was a certain correlation between effective confining pressure and plasticity index and dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio, with fitting degree values greater than 0.1263 for both. However, other physical indices such as the void ratio, natural density, water content and specific gravity have only a small effect on the dynamic shear modulus ratio and the damping ratio, with fitting degree values of less than 0.1 for all of them. This indicates that it is important to consider the influence of effective confining pressure and plasticity index when studying the nonlinear dynamic properties of clays in this area. Based on the above, prediction models for the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio in this area were constructed separately. The results showed that the model that considered the combined effect of effective confining pressure and plasticity index performed best. The predicted dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio closely matched the actual curves, with approximately 88% of the data falling within ±1.3 times the measured dynamic shear modulus ratio and approximately 85.1% of the data falling within ±1.3 times the measured damping ratio. In contrast, the prediction models that considered only a single influence deviated from the actual values, particularly the model that considered only the plasticity index, which predicted the dynamic shear modulus ratio and the damping ratio within a small distribution range close to the average of the test values. When compared with existing prediction models, it was found that the predicted dynamic shear modulus ratio in this paper was slightly higher, which was due to the overall hardness of the clay in this area, leading to a slightly higher determination of the dynamic shear modulus ratio by the prediction model. Finally, for the dynamic shear modulus ratio and damping ratio of the engineering site in the starting area of Xiong'an New Area, we confirm that the prediction formulas established in this paper have high reliability and provide the applicable range of the prediction model.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.5
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• pp.621-633
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• 2023

Stability analysis and support system estimation of the Beheshtabad water transmission tunnel is investigated in this research. A combination approach based on the rock mass rating (RMR) and rock mass quality index (Q) is used for this purpose. In the first step, 40 datasets related to the petrological, structural, hydrological, physical, and mechanical properties of tunnel host rocks are measured in the field and laboratory. Then, RMR, Q, and height of influenced zone above the tunnel roof are computed and sorted into five general groups to analyze the tunnel stability and determine its support system. Accordingly, tunnel stand-up time, rock load, and required support system are estimated for five sorted rock groups. In addition, various empirical relations between RMR and Q i.e., linear, exponential, logarithmic, and power functions are developed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Based on the significance level (sig.), determination coefficient (R²) and Fisher-test (F) indices, power and logarithmic equations are proposed as the optimum relations between RMR and Q. To validate the proposed relations, their results are compared with the results of previous similar equations by using the variance account for (VAF), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean absolute error (MAE) indices. Comparison results showed that the accuracy of proposed RMR-Q relations is better than the previous similar relations and their outputs are more consistent with actual data. Therefore, they can be practically utilized in designing the tunneling projects with an acceptable level of accuracy and reliability.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2008

We have carried out Pearson-type chi-square tests on the orientation data of joints from different depths in order to estimate the homogeneity of joint orientations obtained from a borehole. The orientation data of joints were collected from two non-foliated massive rocks of granitic gneisses in South Korea since orientations of joints in folded metamorphic rocks, for example, are controlled by foliation and also changes as the orientations of foliation change by folding. Borehole images were used for the analysis of the orientations of individual joints. The orientation data were subdivided into the upper level data and lower level data. The data from these two levels are plotted on the patch net consisting of 21 orientation patches. Then, the two patterns on the patch net were analyzed using a contingency table. From the chi-square test on the data collected from two sites, we found that some data sets show statistically meaningful differences in orientations of joints. Since joints are one of the important parameters in determining the physical properties of rock masses, in situ investigation of joints are desirable in the geotechnical investigation and also in design of subsurface structures (e.g. tunnels and underground storages).

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.144-156
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• 1996

The deformation behaviors under uniaxial compressive cyclic loading were investigated for fresh rocks and freeze-thaw cycled samples. The Pocheon granite which is one of the most popular building stone in Korea was selected for tests. 0.5 Hz and 50% of dynamic strength were used as test conditions for frequency and fatigue span, respectively. For freezethaw procedure, sample were frozen for 3 hours under the temperature of -2$0^{\circ}C$ and then followed 3 hours thawing under the temperature of +2$0^{\circ}C$. Twenty seven samples were used as untreated and seventy three for freeze-thaw samples. No failure occurred up to 15000 cycles at the stress level of 60% of dynamic strength, indicating that the lowest strees level for fatigue failure may be around 60% of dynamic strength. Permanent strain and damping capacity curves show that there were three stages when rock behaves like under creep. Young's moduli were increased and Possion's ratios were decreased with the increase of the number of cycles. Possion's ratios varied more rapidly than Young's moduli did with the increase of the number of cycles. This may represent that most microcracks developed by fatigue stress are parallel to the axis of loading. The deformation behavior of freeze-thaw cycled samples were almost the same as that of untreated samples. However, the result of freeze-thaw cycled samples showed lower regression constant, indicating that the physical durability of rock is much lowered because of cyclic temperature variation.