• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.117-133
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• 2022

Determination of the mechanical behaviour of jointed rock masses has been a challenge for rock engineers for decades. This problem is more pronounced for non-persistent jointed rock masses due to complicated interaction of rock bridges on the overall behaviour. This paper aims to study the effect of a non-persistent joint set configuration on the mechanical behaviour of rock materials under both uniaxial and biaxial compression tests using a discrete element code. The numerical simulation of biaxial compressive strength of rock masses has been challenging in the past due to shortcomings of bonded particle models in reproducing the failure envelope of rock materials. This problem was resolved in this study by employing the flat-joint contact model. The validity of the numerical model was investigated through a comprehensive comparative study against physical uniaxial and biaxial compression experiments. Good agreement was found between numerical and experimental tests in terms of the recorded peak strength and the failure mode in both loading conditions. Studies on the effect of joint orientation on the failure mode showed that four zones of intact, transition to block rotation, block rotation and transition to intact failure occurs when the joint dip angle varies from 0° to 90°. It was found that the applied confining stress can significantly alter the range of these zones. It was observed that the minimum strength occurs at the joint dip angle of around 45 degrees under different confining stresses. It was also found that the joint orientation can alter the post peak behaviour and the lowest brittleness was observed at the block rotation zone.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.181-191
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• 2011

It is very difficult to prepare a lab. test specimen from weak rock masses affected by faults, highly fractured zone or weathered zone. In conventional method of in situ direct shear test a rock block is sheared inside galleries, where reactions for the hydraulic jacks are available. A new in situ direct shear test apparatus has been developed in this study to perform the test inside galleries as well as open pit conditions. The apparatus is composed of normal and shear reaction plates including load transfer plates, hydraulic cylinder systems, load cells, multistage shear boxes with fixing devices, and needle rollers. Maximum size of the test block is $400{\times}400{\times}460$ mm, and procedures of the test block preparation has been suggested. To explore the field applicability of in situ direct shear test apparatus, proper test block site was investigated by extensive geological field survey. In situ direct shear test has been successful in producing most of information related to strength and deformability of the weak rock.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.131-143
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• 1996

In-situ survey and laboratory rock test were carried out for rating rock mass around the tunnel that some failures had been occurred in Danyang limestone quarry. For rating rock mass, several methods such as RMR, Q-system, rock strength etc. were applied. The stability analysis on tunnel was evaluated by numerical method FLAC. And The block theory using streographic projection was also applied for stability analysis. The 3-4 major discontinuity sets are distributed in rock mass around tunnel.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 1998

Considering the mechanical cracking in the concrete lining of tunnels occurring in relatively short period of time after the construction, there is a need for the study on the mechanical behavior and the cracking characteristics of double lining support system(shotcrete and concrete lining). For the proposed study, downscaled lining models of Kyung-Bu High Speed Railway tunnels were tested. Most longitudinal cracks at about 93 percentage developed within 30 arch degree from the vault. Cracking load was about 30 percentage of the failure load and the deflection under the cracking load was 10 percentage of the deflection under the failure load. The overbreak around the vault contributed to the reduction of the capacity for cracking and failure by the percentage greater than the reduced effective depth. Of several rock block types considered in this research, the triangular block was the most critical, and the right triangular block under eccentric load was secondly critical for the stability of the tunnel lining system. The dimensionless support reaction curves were derived from the experimental results for single and double lining. The general equation to compute the designed flexural moment was modified.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.172-182
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• 2003

In this study, the back analysis was performed by means of stereo-net, plane failure and block failure method to collapsed fields among the rock slopes designed by standardized criterion, and the internal frictions from the back analysis were compared with those used to reinforcement design. It was concluded that in the result of the analysis by means of stereo net, plain failure and block failure methods, the internal frictions used to re-design of collapsed slope underestimated 10$^{\circ}$, 5$^{\circ}$ and 10$^{\circ}$ in average. At present, the internal friction on the design is used the experience value according to the state of weathering, but internal friction angle by the back analysis on collapsed slope with various methods were more reliable values than those from the present method. And it was concluded that re-design was made extravagantly because the internal friction used to re-design for reinforcement of the collapsed slope was less than back analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.23 no.2_2
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• pp.245-254
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• 2020

This study investigated the so far little-researched characteristics of the behaviors of rock slopes at the time of an earthquake. For the selection of the rock block, a proper model was formed by applying the similarity in consideration of the roughness and strength of the rock slope(10m) on the site, and shaking table tests were carried out according to seismic excitement acceleration, and seismic waves. In the case of the inclination angle of the joint plane of 20°, the long period wave at 0.3g or more at the time of the seismic excitement surpassed the length of 100mm, the permissible displacement (0.01H, H:slope height), which brought about the collapse of the rock; the short period wave surpassed the permissible displacement at 0.1g, which caused the collapse of the slope. The rock slope was close to a rigid block and a structure more vulnerable to the long period wave than to the short period wave. It collapsed in the short period wave even at the seismic amplitude smaller than the maximum design acceleration in Korea.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.434-445
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• 2010

Underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) system in a lined rock cavern is considered one of the promising large-scale energy storage technologies. In this study, permeabilities of concrete lining block and its construction joint, which are the major components of an air tightness system of the undeground CAES, were measured from a model experiment. From the experiment, it was found that intrinsic permeability of construction joint was larger than that of concrete block by the order scale of $10^1{\sim}10^4$, so that it would be very important to control the quality of construction joints in-situ in order to secure air tightness of storage system. And the permeability of construction joint could be decreased as low as that of the concrete block by pasting an acryl-type adhesive on bonding surfaces. Higher degrees of water saturation of the concrete block resulted in the lower permeability, which is more preferable in the viewpoint of air tightness of storage cavern.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.553-565
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• 2023

As the structure of broken rock mass is complex, with obvious discontinuity and anisotropy, it is generally necessary to reinforce broken rock mass using grouting in underground construction. The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate the mechanical properties of broken rock mass after grouting reinforcement with consideration of the characteristics of broken rock mass (i.e., degree of fragmentation and shape) and a range of reinforcement methods such as relative strength ratio between the broken rock mass and cement-based grout stone body (λ), and volumetric block proportion (VBP) representing the volumetric ratio of broken rock mass and the overall cement grout-broken rock mass mixture after the reinforcement. The experimental results show that the strength and deformation of the reinforced broken rock mass is largely determined by relative strength ratio (λ) and VBP. In addition, the enhancement in compressive strength by grouting is more obvious for broken rock mass with spherical shape under a relatively high strength ratio (e.g., λ=2.0), whereas the shape of rock mass has little influence when the strength ratio is low (e.g., λ=0.1). Importantly, the results indicate that columnar splitting failure and inclined shear failure are two typical failure modes of broken rock mass with grouting reinforcement.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.37-44
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• 2005

Recent studies reported that natural block size of rock and joint orientation highly affect on rock fragmentation. In this study, blasting test using high strength cement mortar was carried out to verify this fact. The result of this test indicated that fragmentation is influenced by the joint interval, and at same joint interval condition, fragmentation depends on joint orientation. These results are significantly coincident with field investigations.

• Proceedings of the KSEG Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.109-114
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• 2002

Development of a three-dimensional mine visualization model for a section of the mine is addressed first. Discontinuity orientation and location information was taken from this visualization model for use in slope stability analyses. Estimated shear strength properties of discontinuities and mechanical properties of intact rock from the rock mass samples obtained from the mine are discussed next. The third part of the paper is focused on the results obtained for maximum safe slope angles for the section considered of the mine based on block theory analysis conducted under only the gravitational forces using the mapped discontinuities at the mine. Finally, the effects of water that exist in the rock mass, a tension crack, slope face inclination, overall wedge height and double benching on factor of safety of wedge stability are illustrated through limit equilibrium slope stability analyses conducted on a single tetrahedral wedge belonging to potential key block category that exist in the investigated area of the mine.