• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.169-184
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• 2024

This study investigates acoustic emission (AE) and micro-deformation characteristics of circular openings through biaxial compression experiments. The experimental results showed a significant increase in the frequency, count, energy, and amplitude of AE signals immediately before damage occurred in the circular opening. The differences in frequency and count between before and after damage initiation were significantly pronounced, indicating suitable factors for identifying damage occurrence in circular openings. The results for digital image correlation (DIC) technique revealed that micro-deformation was concentrated around the openings, as evidenced by the spatial distribution of strain. In addition, spalling was observed at the end of the experiments. The AE and micro-deformation characteristics presented in this study are expected to serve as fundamental data for evaluating the stability of underground openings and boreholes for deep subsurface projects.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.23 no.A
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• pp.69-81
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• 2003

Numerical analysis is important for the design, construction and maintenance of large caverns. The rock mass contains generally discontinuities such as faults, joints and fissures. The mechanical behavior and geometric characteristics of these discontinuities would have a significant impact on the stability of the caverns. In this research the Distinct Element Method(DEM) was used to analyze the structural stability of the large cavern. The Barton-Bandis Joint Model (B-B J.M) was used as a constitutive model for the joint. In addition, two different cases 1) analysis with a support system and 2) analysis with no support system, were analyzed to optimize a support system and to investigate reinforcing effects of a support system. The most significant parameters of in-situ stress, JRC of in-situ natural joints, and spatial distribution characteristics of discontinuities were acquired through field investigation. Displacement (horizontal, joint shear), maximum joint opening, maximum and minimum principal stresses, range of relaxed zone, rockbolt axial forces and shotcrete stresses were calculated at each excavation stage. As a result of analysis the calculated values proved to be under the allowable value Rockbolts also proved to be an efficient support measure to control joint shear displacement which had significant effects on extending the relaxed zone. As a consequence, the structural stability of the cavern was assured with an appropriate support system.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.6 s.65
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• pp.437-450
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• 2006

Failure around an underground opening is a function of in-situ stress magnitudes, intact rock strength and the distribution of fractures in the rock mass. At high in-situ stress, the failure process is affected and eventually dominated by stress-induced fractures preferentially growing parallel to the excavation boundary. This fracturing is often observed in brittle type of failure such as slabbing or spatting. Recent studies dies on the stress-induced damage of rock revealed its importance especially in a highly stressed regime. As the constructions of underground structures at deep depths increased, the cases of the brittle failure also increased and furthermore spalling was occurred in Korea at low depths. To improve the stability of the underground structures at highly stressed regime, the characteristics of brittle failure should be examined, but they have not yet been properly investigated. Therefore in this report the characteristics of brittle failure such as types, failure mechanism and modeling methods etc. were considered in all aspects, based on the previous researches.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.397-402
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• 2003

Generally it is likely that rock mass properties are expressed not by a mean value but by values with variation due to its characteristic uncertainty. This characteristic is one of the most important parts for the design of undergound structures, but yet to be fully examined. Stochastic finite element method (SFEM) is contrary to deterministic finite element method in its concept as the former has been developed in order to take the randomness of structural systems into account. Using SFEM, the response variability of structural system can be obtained and it leads probabilistic stability of structure to be analyzed. In this study, displacement response variability of circular opening with hydrostatic stress field are analyzed in terms of rock mass properties having a certain mean and a standard deviation using the SFEM. The analyzed response variability shows that the necessity of probabilistic stability analysis of underground structures using reliable mean value and standard deviation of deformation modulus.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.101-108
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• 2012

In this study was conducted numerical analysis to evaluate the stability of BTR(Built-in Timber Roof Tunneling Method), which is one of construction methods of underground structures in the non-opening state. The discretion method was applied to individually model reinforcing members of BTR, and the homogeneity analysis technic by area ratio was used to verify the feasibility comparing this result with that from conventional analysis method. The parameter study was performed to evaluate the effect varying ground depth, distance length of reinforcing supports and to verify the field applicability of new analysis method. The results showed the very precise value with allowable error, so this method can be applied in the field, The more length of supporting members caused the more vertical displacement and the top displacement increment of support members is larger than that of ground surace. The effect of ground depth was more impressive than that of distance length of reinforcing supports.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.95-107
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• 2023

In this study, the effect of repeated traffic vibration on the long-term stability of mine openings is analyzed for re-utilization of abandoned mine galleries. The research mine in this study is an underground limestone mine which is developed by room-and-pillar mining method, and a dynamic numerical analysis is performed assuming that the research mine will be utilized as a logistics warehouse. The actual traffic vibration generated by the mining vehicles is measured directly, and its waveform is used as input data for dynamic numerical analysis, As a results of dynamic numerical analysis, after 20,000 repetitions of traffic vibration, the mine openings is analyzed to be stable, but an increase in the maximum principal stress and an additional area of plastic zone are observed in the analysis section. As shown in the changes of displacement, volumetric strain, and maximum principal stress which are measured at the mine opening walls. It is confirmed that if the repeated traffic vibration is continuously applied, the instability of the mine openings can be increased. Authors expect that the results of this study can be used as a reference for basic study on utilization of abandoned mine.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.214-220
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• 2012

Deformation behaviour of rock mass around an opening measured during tunnel excavation is very important in order to assess the stability of the tunnel. Unfortunately displacement measured only after the installation of displacement measuring device can be acquired, which results in inevitably excluding the pre-displacement occurred and accumulated before the displacement measuring devices are installed. So it is very important to consider the pre-displacement based on the elapsed time before zero reading after deformation behaviour started. In this study, the accuracy of total estimated displacement depending on the distance between face and measurement position is calculated by statistical non-linear fitting on measurable displacement data. Besides, the influence of the unavoidable measurement error is considered by using Monte-Carlo simulation. As a result, the faster the initial reading started and the smaller the measurement error is, the higher the accuracy of estimating total displacement is obtained.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.447-456
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• 2000

Rock bridge in rock masses can be considered as one of several types of opening-mode fractures, and also it has been known to have a great influence on the stability of structures in rock mass. In the beginning of researching a rock bridge it used to be studied only in characteristics of its behavior, as considering resistance of material itself. However the distribution pattern of rock bridges, which can affect the stability of rock structures, is currently researched with a fracture mechanical approach in numerical studies. For investigating the effect of rock bridges on the development pattern of hydraulic fractures, the author analyzed numerically the stress state transition in rock bridges and their phenomena with a different pattern of the rock bridge distributions. From the numerical studies, a two-crack configuration could be defined to be representative of the most critical conditions for rock bridges, only when cracks are systematic and same in their length and angle. Moreover, coalescence stresses and onset of propagation stresses could be known to increase with decreasing s/L ratio or increasing d/L ratio. The effect of pre-existing crack on hydraulic fracturing was studied also in numerical models. Different to the simple hydraulic fracturing modeling in which the fractures propagated exactly parallel to the maximum remote stress, the hydraulic fractures with pre-existing cracks did not propagate parallel to the maximum remote stress direction. These are representative of the tendency to change the hydraulic fractures direction because of the existence of pre-existing crack. Therefore s/L, d/L ratios will be identical as a function effective on hydraulic fractures propagation, that is, the K$_1$ value increase with decreasing s/L ratio or increasing d/L ratio and its magnification from onset to propagation increases with decreasing s/L ratio. The scanline is a commonly used method to estimate the fracture distribution on outcrops. The data obtained from the scanline method can be applied to the evaluation of stress field in rock mass.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.101-122
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• 1997

A spiting reinforcement system is composed of a series of radially installed reinforcing spites along the perimeter of the tunnel opening ahead of excavation. The reinforcing spill network is extended into the in-situ soil mass both radially and longitudinally The sailing reinforcement system has been successfully used for the construction of underground openings to reinforce weak rock formations on several occasions. The application of this spiting reinforcement system is currently extended to soft ground tunneling in limited occasions because of lack of reliable analysis and design methods. A method of threetimensional limit equilibrium stability analysis of the smile-reinforced shallow tunnel in soft ground is presented. The shape of the potential failure wedge for the case of smile-reinforced shallow tunnel is assumed on the basis of the results of three dimensional finite element analyses. A criterion to differentiate the spill-reinforced shallow tunnel from the smile-reinforced deep tunnel is also formulated, where the tunnel depth, soil type, geometry of the tunnel and reinforcing spites, together with soil arching effects, are considered. To examine the suitability of the proposed method of threedimensional stability analysis in practice, overall stability of the spill-reinforced shallow tunnel at facing is evaluated, and the predicted safety factors are compared with results from twotimensional analyses. Using the proposed method of threetimensional limit equilibrium stability analysis of the smile-reinforced shallow tunnel in soft ground, a parametric study is also made to investigate the effects of various design parameters such as tunnel depth, smile length and wadial spill spacing. With slight modifications the analytical method of threeiimensional stability analysis proposed may also be extended for the analysis and design of steel pipe reinforced multi -step grouting technique frequently used as a supplementary reinforcing method in soft ground tunnel construction.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.258-276
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• 2018

The accurate and quantitative ground information on the hydraulic conductivity characteristics of rock mass is one of the key factors for evaluation of the hydro-geological behaviour of rock mass around an excavated opening under high water pressure. For tunnel and rock structures in seabed, where the sea acts as an infinite source of water, its importance become greater with increasing construction depth below sea level. In this study, to improve the problems related with poor system configuration and incorrect data acquisition of previous hydraulic packer testing equipment, we newly developed an integrated main frame and 30 bar level waterproof downhole sonde apparatus, which were optimized for deep hydraulic packer test in seabed rock mass. Integration of individual test equipment into one frame allows safe and efficient field testing work on a narrow offshore drilling platform. For the integrated type main frame, it is possible to make precise stepwise control of downhole net injection pressure at intervals of $2.0kg_f/cm^2$ or less with dual hydraulic oil volume controller. To ensure the system performance and the operational stability of the prototype mainframe and downhole sonde apparatus, the field feasibility tests were completed in two research boreholes, and using the developed apparatus, the REV(Representative Elementary Volume) scale deep hydraulic packer tests were successfully carried out at a borehole located in the basalt region, Jeju. In this paper, the characteristics of the new testing apparatus are briefly introduced and also some results from the laboratory and in-situ performance tests are shown.