• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.5
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• pp.537-545
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• 2019

Stress analysis of bottom-hole rock has to be considered with much care to further understand rock fragmentation mechanism and high penetration rate. This original study establishes a fully coupled simulation model and explores the effects of overburden pressure, horizontal in-situ stresses, drilling mud pressure, pore pressure and temperature on the stress distribution in bottom-hole rock. The research finds that in air drilling, as the well depth increases, the more easily the bottom-hole rock is to be broken. Moreover, the mud pressure has a great effect on the bottom-hole rock. The bigger the mud pressure is, the more difficult to break the bottom-hole rock is. Furthermore, the maximum principal stress of the bottom-hole increases as the mud pressure, well depth and temperature difference increase. The bottom-hole rock can be divided into three main regions according to the stress state, namely a) three directions tensile area, b) two directions compression areas and c) three directions compression area, which are classified as a) easy, b) normal and c) hard, respectively, for the corresponding fragmentation degree of difficulty. The main contribution of this paper is that it presents for the first time a thorough study of the effect of related factors, including stress distribution and temperature, on the bottom-hole rock fracture rather than the well wall, using a thermo-poroelastoplasticity model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.211-221
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• 2003

At Aspo hard rock laboratory in Sweden, an in-situ heater experiment called "$\"{A}"{s}"{p}"{o}$ Pillar Stability Experiment (APSE)" is prepared to assess capability to predict spatting and stability in a rock mass between deposition holes for radioactive waste. To Predict reasonably fracturing process at rock pillar under a planned configuration before testing, a boundary element code FRACOD has been applied for modelling. The code has been improved to simulate explicitly fracture evolution both at rock boundaries and in intact rocks. A new inverse stress reconstruction technique using boundary element has been also developed to transfer stress field by excavation and thermal loading into the FRACOD model. This article presents the results from predictive modelling far the planned in-situ test condition. Excavation induced stresses might cause slight fracturing in the pillar walls. Typical shear fractures have been initiated and propagated near central pillar walls during 120 days of heating, but overall rock mass remained stable under the considered configuration. The effects of pre-existing joints and properties of fractures are also discussed. It is found from the results that FRACOD can properly model essential rock spatting and propagation at deep tunnels and boreholes.at deep tunnels and boreholes.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.14-21
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• 2019

Distinct element method is a powerful numerical tool for modelling the jointed rock masses. It is also a useful tool for modelling of later stage of blasting requiring large displacement. The distinct element method utilizes a rigid block idea in which the interacting force between distinct elements is calculated from contact displacement as elements penetrate slightly. The properties of joints defined as the boundaries of distinct elements are critical parameters to determine the block behavior, and affect the deformation and failure mode. However, regardless of real joint properties, joint stiffnesses have sometimes been selected without special concern just to prevent elements from penetrating too far into each other in some quasi-static problems. Depending on whether the main interest in the analysis is the prediction of the deformation with high precision, or the prediction of the block behaviour after failure, the input data such as joint stiffness may or may not have a significant effect on the results. The purpose of this study is to provide a sound understanding of the effect of the joint stiffness on the distinct element analysis results, and to help guide the selection of input data.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 2003

For the huge section of tunnel, it is highly required to observe the role of each rock support and their effect of rock reinforcement in order to investigate more reasonable rock support structure. Especially for unstable tunnel situation with no shotcrete strength right after an excavation, sufficient investigation is needed for rock support structure. In this paper, we clarify the relations of compressive strength and material age, cohesion strength and material age, and cohesion stiffness and material age of grout with time-dependence through tests and numerical analysis simulation with trial rock mass considering hardening of bolt grouting material. By means of this process, effect of rock reinforcement for rockbolt is investigated right after an excavation and modelling and physical constants of young aged rockbolts are obtained. Additionally, the effect of rock reinforcement with hydraulic tensile friction bolt is examined right after an excavation, which grout effect is no need to be waited.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.503-512
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• 2018

Globally there is an increasing need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of renewable sources of energy. The storage of solar thermal energy is a crucial aspect for implementing the solar energy for space heating in high latitudes, where solar insolation is high in summer and almost negligible in winter when the domestic heating demand is high. To use the solar heating during winter thermal energy storage is required. In this paper, equations representing the single U-tube heat exchanger are implemented in weak form edge elements in COMSOL Multiphysics(R) to speed up the calculation process for modelling of a borehole storage layout. Multiple borehole seasonal solar thermal energy storage scenarios are successfully simulated. After 5 years of operation, the most efficient simulated borehole pattern containing 168 borehole heat exchangers recovers 69% of the stored seasonal thermal energy and provides 971 MWh of thermal energy for heating in winter.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.306-319
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• 2020

Characterizations of Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ), which is hydro-mechanical degrading the host rock, are the important issues on the geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel. In the DECOVALEX 2019 project, Task G aimed to model the fractured rock numerically, describe the hydro-mechanical behavior of EDZ, and predict the change of the hydraulic factor during the lifetime of the geological repository. Task G prepared two-dimensional fractured rock model to compare the characteristics of each simulation tools in Work Package 1, validated the extended three-dimensional model using the TAS04 in-situ interference tests from Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Work Package 2, and applied the thermal and glacial loads to monitor the long-term hydro-mechanical response on the fractured rock in Work Package 3. Each modelling team adopted both Finite Element Method (FEM) and Discrete Element Method (DEM) to simulate the hydro-mechanical behavior of the fracture rock, and added the various approaches to describe the EDZ and fracture geometry which are appropriate to each simulation method. Therefore, this research can introduce a variety of numerical approaches and considerations to model the geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel in the crystalline fractured rock.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.64-71
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• 1999

A numerical analysis was performed to investigate the effects of notched blasthole in controlling the fracture plane. Analyzed were elastic and elasto-plastic response of rock, and fracture propagation under static and dynamic load conditions. Results showed that the region exceeding the tensile strength extended up to three times the radius of a normal blasthole in elastic analysis, while fifteen times in elasto-plastic analysis. It was shown that a crack was driven from the notch tip up to the distance of 23 times the hole radius in the case of a notched blasthole with a notch of 5 mm in depth and 30 mm in length.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.5C
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• pp.199-210
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• 2012

The effects of tunnelling in weak weathered rock on the behaviour of a pre-existing single pile and pile groups ($3{\times}3$ and $5{\times}5$ pile groups) above a tunnel have been studied by carrying out three-dimensional (3D) elasto-plastic numerical analyses. Numerical modelling of such effects considers the response of the single pile and pile groups in terms of tunnelling-induced ground and pile settlement as well as changes of the shear transfer mechanism at the pile-soil interface due to tunnelling. Due to changes in the relative shear displacement between the pile and the soil at the pile-soil interface with tunnel advancement, the shear stresses and axial pile force distributions along the pile change drastically. Based on the computed results, upward shear stresses are induced up to about Z/L=0.775 from the pile top, while downward shear stresses are mobilised below Z/L=0.775, resulting in a reduction in the axial pile force distribution with depth equivalent to a net increase in the tensile force on the pile. A maximum tensile force of about $0.36P_a$ developed on the single pile solely due to tunnelling, where $P_a$ is the service axial pile loading prior to tunnelling. The degree of interface shear strength mobilisation at the pile-soil interface was found to be a key factor governing pile-soil-tunnelling interaction. Overall it has been found that the larger the number of piles, the greater is the effect of tunnelling on the piles in terms of pile settlement, while changes of the axial pile forces for the piles in the groups are smaller than for a single pile due to the shielding effect. The reduction of apparent allowable pile capacity due to tunnelling-induced pile head settlement was significant, in particular for piles inside the groups.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.21-32
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• 1997

In this paper, an enhanced finite element model based on homogenisation technique is proposed to capture the localized failure mode of the intact rock masses. For this, bifurcation analysis at the element level is performed and, once the bifurcation is detected, equivalent material properties of the shear band and neighbouring intact rock are used to trace the post -peak behaviour of the material. It is demonstrated that mesh sensitivity of the strain softening model is overcome and progressive failure mode of rock specimen can be simulated relaistically. Furthermore, the numerical results show that the crack propagation and final failure mode can be captured with relatively coarse meshes and compares well with the experimental data available.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.279-288
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• 2001

Jointed rock mass can be analyzed by either continuum model or discontinuum model. Finite element method or finite difference method is mainly used for continuum modelling. Although discontinuum model is very attractive in analyzing the behavior of each block in jointed blocky rock masses, it has shortcomings such that it is difficult to investigate each joint exactly with the present technology and the amount of calculation in computer becomes trio excessive. Moreover, in case of the jointed blocky rock mass which has more than 2 dominant joint sets, it is impossible to model the behavior of each block. Therefore, a model such as ubiquitous joint model theory which assumes the rock mass as a continuum, is required. In the case of tunnels, unlike slopes, it is not easy to obtain safety factor by utilizing analysis method based on limit equilibrium method because it is difficult to assume the shape of failure surface in advance. For this reason, numerical analyses for tunnels have been limited to analyzing stability rather than in calculating the safety factor. In this study, the behavior of a tunnel excavated in jointed rock mass is analyzed numerically by using ubiquitous joint model which can incorporate 2 joint sets and a method to calculate safety factor of the tunnel numerically is presented. To this end, stress reduction technique is adopted.