• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.221-242
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• 2021

A numerical study of the performance assesment of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processes in improved Korean reference disposal system (KRS⁺) for high-level radioactive waste is conducted using TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator. Decay heat from high-level radioactive waste increases the temperature of the repository, and it decreases as decay heat is reduced. The maximum temperature of the repository is below a maximum temperature criterion of 100℃. Saturation of bentonite buffer adjacent to the canister is initially reduced due to pore water evaporation induced by temperature increase. Bentonite buffer is saturated 250 years after the disposal of high-level radioactive waste by inflow of groundwater from the surrounding rock mass. Initial saturation of rock mass decreases as groundwater in rock mass is moved to bentnonite buffer by suction, but rock mass is saturated after inflow of groundwater from the far-field area. Stress changes at rock mass are compared to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and the spalling strength in order to investigate the potential rock failure by thermal stress and swelling pressure. Additional simulations are conducted with the reduced spacing of deposition holes. The maximum temperature of bentonite buffer exceeds 100℃ as deposition hole spacing is smaller than 5.5 m. However, temperature of about 56.1% volume of bentonite buffer is below 90℃. The methodology of numerical modeling used in this study can be applied to the performance assessment of coupled THM processes for high-level radioactive waste repositories with various input parameters and geological conditions such as site-specific stress models and geothermal gradients.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.33-41
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• 2011

In case of building up port facilities on soft ground, unsymmetrical surcharge of embankment, which make the excess pore water pressure to increase, causes to occur lateral displacement due to plasticity of soil. A study on lateral displacement and settlement of the caisson, which is installed on improved ground, was accomplished. The field measurement data and calculated values obtained from FEM program of Plaxis were compared and analyzed. For numerical analysis, the properties of soils, constructions stage and time were considered. Lateral displacement was measured at the point of inclinometers installed in front of caisson. Settlement was measured at the center of extra embankment behind of caisson. Comparison of measured and calculated for lateral displacement showed that the calculated value was greater than the measured, and increasing trend was different. The calculated value showed step increasing as step extra embankment applied, whereas the measured gradually was increased. For settlement of embankment, the amount of both measured and calculated were similar, but the trend was different like that of lateral movement.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.79-88
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• 2011

Adfreeze bond strength develops upon freezing of pore water within soil and at foundation surface. It has been reported that various factors like temperature, soil type, and pile surface roughness affect adfreeze bond strength. Especially, pile surface roughness has been considered as a primary factor to design pile foundation in frozen ground. It has usually been estimated with fixed correction factors for pile materials. However, even if the pile foundation material is the same, the surface roughness could vary depending on the production circumstances. In this study, laboratory test was carried out to quantitatively analyze the effects of surface roughness on the adfreeze bond strength, and fractal dimension was used as a measure for surface roughness. Test results showed that adfreeze bond strength increased with decreasing temperature, increasing vertical stress and surface roughness. The adfreeze bond strength varies sensitively with surface roughness in the early freezing section of $-2^{\circ}C$, but its sensitivity decreased in the temperature ranging between $-2^{\circ}C$ to $-5^{\circ}C$. The results conclude that the roughness highly affects the frictional resistance of pile surface in frozen ground; however, the roughness does not affect considerably when the temperature drops below about $-2^{\circ}C$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.343-347
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• 2011

Due to the strong dependence on fossil fuels within the history of human progress, it leads to disaster of the whole world like flood, shortage of water and extinction of the species. In order to curb carbon dioxide emissions, many technologies are being developed. Among them, porous carbon materials have important advantages over other absorbent, such as high surface area, thermal and chemical resistance, low cost, various pore distribution and low energy requirement for their regeneration. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has attracted the significant research efforts for reducing green house gas emission using several absorbent and process. Moreover, the absorbent are used for the separation of bio mass gas that contains methane which is considered a promising fuel as new green energy resource. In this review, we summarized the recent studies and trend about the porous carbon materials for CCS as well as separation from the biogas.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.199-209
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• 2021

This paper is written to evaluate the ground stability according to the construction of Jeju 2nd airport. Sumgol is the unique characteristics of Jeju soil, which is used to evaluate the ground stability of the airport. The research contents are as follows. 1) The geotechnical characteristics for Jeju 2nd airport was analyzed, and the Sumgol and geotechnical properties were calculated based on the existing geotechnical survey data. 2) The divided sections of Jeju 2nd airport were modeled to evaluate the ground stability after determining the section (runway and airport facilities) which have the different soil and loading properties. 3) The stability and deformation ranges of the airport ground were identified through numerical analysis. The entire airport was divided into three sections to analyze the stability of Jeju 2nd airport, and calculated the stresses, settlements, and strains of each section by computer numerical analysis modeling. For modeling, the ground and load conditions were examined, also pavement conditions for each airport ground section were examined. From the analysis results of each section according to the ground conditions, the vertical settlements were analyzed as 0.11~0.18 m and the sum of effective stress and pore water pressure were 92.75~445 kPa. These results were made by taking into account the Sumgol of the bottom ground without reinforcement, also the soil strength parameters of the airport ground were reduced for computer modeling, Therefore, if proper reinforcements are applied to the ground of Jeju 2nd airport, sufficient airport ground stability can be secured.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.59-70
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• 2022

There is a growing interest in evaluating earthquake damage and determining disaster prevention measures due to the magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Pohang, Korea. Since the liquefaction phenomena occurred extensively in the residential area as a result of the earthquake, there was a demand for research on liquefaction phenomenon evaluation and liquefaction disaster prediction. Liquefaction is defined as a phenomenon where the strength of the ground is completely lost due to a sudden increase in excess pore water pressure caused due to large dynamic stress, such as an earthquake, acting on loose sand particles in a short period of time. The liquefaction potential index, which can identify the occurrence of liquefaction and predict the risk of liquefaction in a targeted area, can be used to create a liquefaction hazard map. However, since liquefaction assessment using existing field testing is predicated on a single borehole liquefaction assessment, there has been a representative issue for the whole targeted area. Spatial interpolation and geographic information systems can help to solve this issue to some extent. Therefore, in order to solve the representative problem of geotechnical information, this research uses the kriging method, one of the geostatistical spatial interpolation techniques, and constructs a geotechnical information database for liquefaction and spatial interpolation. Additionally, the liquefaction hazard map was created for each return period using the constructed geotechnical information database. Cross validation was used to confirm the accuracy of this liquefaction hazard map.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.219-229
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• 2022

Bentonite is being considered as a candidate for buffer material in geological disposal systems for high-level radioactive wastes. In this study, the effect of cement-bentonite interactions on bentonite alteration was investigated by reviewing the literature on studies of cement-bentonite interactions. The major bentonite alteration by hyperalkaline fluids produced by the interaction of cementitious materials with groundwater includes cation exchange, montmorillonite dissolution, secondary mineral precipitation, and illitization. When the hyperalkaline leachate from the reaction of the cementitious material with the groundwater comes into contact with bentonite, montmorillonite, the main component of bentonite, is dissolved and a small amount of secondary minerals such as zeolite, calcium silicate hydrate, and calcite is produced. When montmorillonite is continuously dissolved, the physicochemical properties of bentonite may change, which may ultimately causes changes in bentonite performance as a buffer material such as adsorption capacity, swelling capacity, and hydraulic conductivity. In addition, the bentonite alteration is affected by various factors such as temperature, reaction period, pressure, composition of pore water, bentonite constituent minerals, chemical composition of montmorillonite, and types of interlayer cations. This study can be used as basic information for the long-term stability verification study of the buffer material in the geological disposal system for high-level radioactive wastes.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.493-506
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• 2021

Liquefaction refers to a phenomenon in which excessive pore water pressure occurs when a dynamic load such as an earthquake rapidly acts on a loose sandy soil saturated with soil, and the ground loses effective stress and becomes liquefied. The indoor repeated test for liquefaction evaluation can be confirmed through the repeated triaxial compression test and the repeated shear test. In this regard, this study tried to confirm the liquefaction resistance strength according to the relative density and particle size distribution of sand using the repeated triaxial compression test. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the liquefaction resistance strength increased as the relative density increased regardless of the soil classification, and the liquefaction resistance strength according to the particle size distribution of the sand was confirmed that the liquefaction resistance strength of the SP sample close to SW was significantly higher. In addition, as a result of analyzing 30% of fine powder compared to 0% of fine powder, as the relative density increased to 40~70%, the liquefaction resistance strength decreased by 5~20%, and the domestic weathered soil ground had a fine liquefaction resistance strength compared to Jumunjin standard sand. When the minute was 10%, it was measured to be 30% or more, and when the fine particle was 30%, it was measured to be less than 50%.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.67-78
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• 2022

In this study, the measurement results of the coastal deep soft ground buried in the upper part of the dredged clay were analyzed and compared with the current specification standards. Based on the results, a suitable proposal was suggested for the selection, installation, data arrangement, and analysis of each instrument used in the deep soft ground improvement construction. The pore water pressure meter has a range of 1.5 times or more of the expected measurement range, considering the field conditions of the soft ground. The groundwater level meter installed in the horizontal drainage layer checks the change in the groundwater level during the embanking as well as the performance of the catchment well and the horizontal drainage layer. Therefore, it is important to manage so that the groundwater level exists inside the horizontal drainage layer during embanking. It is enough to install the inclinometer in the gravel layer below the soft ground or weathered rock with an N value of 40 or more for the deep soft ground. It seems desirable to install a screw type for differential settlement meter. However, the screw type should not settle due to its own weight. Considering that it is a dredged landfill where subsidence occurs significantly, it is sufficient to manage the tolerance of leveling at about 10 mm (L is the one-way distance (km)).

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.314-324
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• 2022

This study is aimed to design a membrane process that systematically removes contaminants including microplastics in sun-dried salt using a separation membrane. In this study, we selected the separation membrane material, pore size, and module suitable for the sun-dried salt fields, and proceeded with the experiments under the salt fields and laboratory conditions. A pilot plant was constructed and tested in our lab and in the actual saltern with the selected 200 kDa, 4 kDa ultrafiltration membranes, and 3 kDa nanofiltration membranes. Most of the impurities in the sea salt were 0.1 ㎛ in size, and more than 7 types of various microplastics were detected in the impurities. After that, as a result of checking the filtered water through the separation membrane process, no impurities were detected. As a result of comparing the existing sea salt component and the sea salt component prepared with separation membrane filtrate, impurities were effectively removed without change in the sea salt component.