• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.841-849
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• 2013

Workers engaged in construction works have been exposed to high levels of noise during their work in tunnels. Noise is one of the major health hazards for employees working in construction sites. The aim of this study is to evaluate the noise levels generating from tunneling equipments such as jumbo drills, backhoes, payloaders, shotcrete machines and service cars. Explosion and turbo fan noises were also monitored. A high precision sound level meter was introduced for measuring LAeq, LAFmax, LAFmin and LCpeak noises in 5 tunneling work sites that were located in Seoul, Kyunggi-do and Kangwon-do areas with NATM and shield methods. The highest noise was recorded by explosion(151.9 dB LCpeak) followed by jumbo drills of higher than 110 dB(A) LAeq. Backhoe normally generated 90~110 dB(A) LAeq while breaking work of rock showed additional around 5~15 dB(A). Noise exposure levels for payloader and shotcrete machine scored more than 90 dB(A) which might be a source of noise-induced hearing loss. Additional research in revealing noise levels from construction equipments operating in tunneling works may enhance the protection of workers who exposed to noise primarily at the sites.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.489-496
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• 2020

This study proposes a new empirical model to effectively predict the excavation performance of a shield tunnel boring machine (TBM). The TBM performance is affected by the geological and geotechnical characteristics as well as the machine parameters of TBM. Field penetration index (FPI) is correlated with rock mass parameters to analyze the effective geotechnical parameters influencing the TBM performance. The result shows that RMR has a more dominant impact on the TBM performance than UCS and RQD. RMR also shows a significant relationship with the specific energy, which is defined as the energy required for excavating the unit volume of rock. Therefore, the specific energy can be used as an indicator of the mechanical efficiency of TBM. Based on these relationships with RMR, this study suggests an empirical performance prediction model to predict FPI, which can be derived from the correlation between the specific energy and RMR.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1993.11a
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• pp.2-2
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• 1993

The present status of the thennomechanica1 evaluation of functionally gradient materials(FGMs) for space plane application was reviewed, in which research activities and the cooperation of the national project team organized to study FGM science were demonstrated. The project team was divided into three working groups; de singing, processing and evaluation, each of which had their own tasks in the project cooperation. The testings details of the various thennomechanical tests for the FGM samples fabricated by the processing groups were described, along with their corresponding heating conditions of the real environments in the space plane application. For small-sized samples, laser beam heating test and burner heating test were well applied to study the heat shielding and heat resisting properties. Arc-heated wind tunnel test and high temperature!high velocity gas flow test were used for large-sized panel assemblies having cooling structures. The criteria for the evaluation of the heat shielding and heat resisting properties of the FGMs, as well as a crack activation mechanism in their differential temperature heating, were proposed on the basis of the observation in the burner heating test.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.453-467
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• 2016

Overall risks that can occur in a shield TBM tunnelling are studied in this paper. Both the potential risk events that may occur during tunnel construction and their causes are identified, and the causal relationship between causes and events is obtained in a systematic way. Risk impact analysis is performed for the potential risk events and ways to mitigate the risks are summarized. Literature surveys as well as interviews with experts were made for this purpose. The potential risk events are classified into eight categories: cuttability reduction, collapse of a tunnel face, ground surface settlement and upheaval, spurts of slurry on the ground, incapability of mucking and excavation, and water leakage. The causes of these risks are categorized into three areas: geological, design and construction management factors. Bayesian Networks (BN) were established to systematically assess a causal relationship between causes and events. The risk impact analysis was performed to evaluate a risk response level by adopting an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with the consideration of the downtime and cost of measures. Based on the result of the risk impact analysis, the risk events are divided into four risk response levels and these levels are verified by comparing with the actual occurrences of risk events. Measures to mitigate the potential risk events during the design and/or construction stages are also proposed. Result of this research will be of the help to the designers and contractors of TBM tunnelling projects in identifying the potential risks and for preparing a systematic risk management through the evaluation of the risk response level and the migration methods in the design and construction stage.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.97-110
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• 2018

The application of sprayed waterproofing membrane with high adhesion and ductility is considered to be promising as a measure for repair and reinforcement of a tunnel structure. Therefore, a powder-type and one-component membrane prototype with high tensile and bond strengths was made in this study. Then, its reinforcement effect on a shield segment was evaluated by carrying out a series of full-scale loading tests of segment specimens on which the membrane was sprayed. From the tests, it was confirmed that the initial cracking loads increased by approximately 34% due to cracking retardation by membrane coating. Even though the increase of failure loads were not so high as cracking loads, the strain-softening behaviors were observed from specimens coated by the membrane. Therefore, it is expected that the membrane coated on the inner surface of a lining might be effective in preventing its brittle failure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.423-446
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• 2023

Shield TBM tunnel linings are segmented into segments and rings. This study investigates the response characteristics of the stress and displacement of the segment lining under seismic waves through modeling that considers the interface behavior between segments by applying a shell interface element to the contact surface between segments and rings. And there is no management criteria for ovaling deformation of segment linings in Korea. So, this study the ovality criteria and meaning of segment lining. The results of study showed that the distribution patterns of stress and displacement under seismic waves were similar between continuous linings and segment linings. However, the maximum values of stress and displacement showed differences from segment linings. The stress distribution of the continuous lining modeled as a shell type has a stress distribution that has continuity in the 3D cylindrical shape, but the segment lining is concentrated outside the segment, and the largest stress occurs at the location where the contact surface between the segment and the ring is concentrated. This intermittent and localized stress distribution shows an increasing as the ovality of the lining increases at seismic waves. The ovality at which the increase in stress distribution begins to show irregularity and localization is about 150‰. Ovality of 150‰ is an unrealistic value that cannot represent actual lining deformation. Therefore, the ovality of the segment lining increase with depth, but it does not have a significant impact on the stability caused by seismic load.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.528-546
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• 2018

Cases of TBM tunnelling have been consistently increasing worldwide. In many recent subsea and urban tunnelling projects, TBM excavation has been preferably considered due to its advantages over drill and blast tunnelling. Difficult ground conditions are highly probable to appear in subsea and urban tunnels because of the shallow working depth and alluvial characteristics. Under the difficult ground conditions, ground reinforcement measures should be considered including grouting, while it is of great importance to select the optimal grout material and injection method to cope with the ground condition. The benefits from TBM excavation, such as fast excavation, increased safety, and reduced environmental impact, can be achieved by applying appropriate ground reinforcement with the minimum overrun of cost and time. In this report, various grouting methods were reviewed so that they can be applied in difficult ground conditions. In addition, domestic and international cases of successful ground reinforcement for difficult grounds were introduced for future reference.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.494-507
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• 2021

With the increasing use of TBM, research has recently been conducted in Korea to analyze TBM data with machine learning techniques to predict the ground in front of TBM, predict the exchange cycle of disk cutters, and predict the advance rate of TBM. In this study, classification prediction of rock characteristics of slurry shield TBM sites was made by combining traditional rock classification techniques and machine learning techniques widely used in various fields with machine data during TBM excavation. The items of rock characteristic classification criteria were set as RQD, uniaxial compression strength, and elastic wave speed, and the rock conditions for each item were classified into three classes: class 0 (good), 1 (normal), and 2 (poor), and machine learning was performed on six class algorithms. As a result, the ensemble model showed good performance, and the LigthtGBM model, which showed excellent results in learning speed as well as learning performance, was found to be optimal in the target site ground. Using the classification model for the three rock characteristics set in this study, it is believed that it will be possible to provide rock conditions for sections where ground information is not provided, which will help during excavation work.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.263-278
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• 2022

This paper contains experimental study for the development and performance of TBM backfill material with thixotropic properties. The LW backfill material is widely applied to fill the cavity on the back side of the shield TBM excavation, but has disadvantages such as settlement caused by strength reduction, material separation by groundwater, and reduced plasticity. In this paper, laboratory tests and a model test were conducted to assess the performance of inorganic thixotropic backfill material proposed to improve these problems. The results of laboratory tests show that 1 hr-uniaxial compressive strength of ITB was 12 times higher than LW, and the rate of bleeding of 20 hr was 8.3 times lower, and the result of flow table test was more than 27 times higher. This result indicated that the inorganic thixotropic backfill material has superior properties to LW backfill in terms of strength reduction, material separation, and thixotropy. In the model experiment, a model injection device tester was manufactured and the injection performance and filling rate were verified. When material was injected in the water, it was visually checked whether material separation occurred, and it was confirmed that the filling rate was 96% or more. Comparison results with the test of LW and ITB materials was concluded that ITB can reduce the material separation by groundwater and the occurrence of tunnel cavity.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.502-517
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• 2022

As the use of TBM increases, research has recently increased to to analyze TBM data with machine learning techniques to predict the exchange cycle of disc cutters, and predict the advance rate of TBM. In this study, a regression prediction of disc cutte wear of slurry shield TBM site was made by combining machine learning based on the machine data and the geotechnical data obtained during the excavation. The data were divided into 7:3 for training and testing the prediction of disc cutter wear, and the hyper-parameters are optimized by cross-validated grid-search over a parameter grid. As a result, gradient boosting based on the ensemble model showed good performance with a determination coefficient of 0.852 and a root-mean-square-error of 3.111 and especially excellent results in fit times along with learning performance. Based on the results, it is judged that the suitability of the prediction model using data including mechanical data and geotechnical information is high. In addition, research is needed to increase the diversity of ground conditions and the amount of disc cutter data.