• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.52-69
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• 2002

The WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant), located 42km east of Carlsbad, New Mexico (NM), in bedded salt 655m below the surface, is a mined repository constructed by the US DOE for the permanent disposal of transuranic (TRU) wastes generated by activities related to defence of the US since 1970. Its historical disposal operation began in March 1999 following receipt of a final permit from the State of NM after a positive certification decision for the WIPP was issued by the EPA in 1998, as the first licensed facility in the US for the deep geologic disposal of radioactive wastes. The CCA (Compliance Certification Application) for the WIPP that the DOE submitted to the EPA in 1966 was supported by an extensive performance assessment (PA) carried out by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), with so-called 1996 PA. Even though such PA methodologies could be greatly different from the way we consider for HLW disposal in Korea largely due to quite different geologic formations in which repository are likely to be located, a review on lots of works done through the WIPP PA studies could be the most important lessons that we can learn from in view of current situation in Korea where an initial phase of conceptual studies on HLW disposal has been just started. The objective of this art report is an overview of the methodology used in the recent WIPP PA to support the US DOE WIPP CCA and some relevant results completed by SNL.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.209-231
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• 2018

Severe mine disasters have continued to occur around the world. To ensure worker's health and safety and enhance the productivity, a number of studies have been conducted for the development of wireless sensor network (WSN), environmental monitoring, and communication system in underground mines. An increase in development and application of these systems has just begun with the introduction of information and communication technology into the mining industry in Korea, and yet there have been only a few studies that considered the underground mine ventilation system. This study presented the literature review on the development of WSN and environmental monitoring in underground mines, and especially, on 7 subjects in terms of underground mine ventilation. Moreover, studies that especially conducted real-time environmental monitoring were reviewed and categorized by each commercial software commonly utilized for the ventilation network analysis. For the application in domestic underground mines, further issues were discussed regarding research subjects that may be needed in the future and domestic environmental standards that has been used in the underground mine operation. This paper is expected to be useful for the development of WSN-based environmental monitoring and communication system, as well as for related studies in the future.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.353-362
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• 2015

Platform screen door (PSD) installed at underground subway station has reduced the safety accident, but it may cause poor air ventilation condition due to the isolated exhaust duct in the subway tunnel area. In this study, the additional ventilation system was suggested, which can be installed at a void space (i.e., storage room under stairs) of platform in order to improve efficiency of air ventilation rate. Exhausted air from platform was directed to underneath of platform and joined with existing ventilation duct of train exhaust system (TES). One subway station in Seoul city was selected to predict the effectiveness of the suggested lower exhaust system by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The predicted mean age of air was decreased by 16.5% which proves the improvement of air ventilation efficiency when the suggested lower exhaust system was applied.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.151-159
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• 2012

The potential repository domains for A-KRS (Advanced Korean Reference Disposal System for High Level Wastes) in geological characteristics of KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) facility site were proposed to develop a repository system design and to perform the safety assessment. The host rock of KURT facility site is one of major Mesozoic plutonic rocks in Korean peninsula, two-mica granite, which was influenced by hydrothermal alteration. The topographical features control the flow lines of surface and groundwater toward south-easterly and all waters discharge to Geum River. Fracture zones distributed in study site are classified into order 2 magnitude and their dominant orientations are N-S and E-W strike. From the geological features and fracture zones, the potential repository domains for A-KRS were determined spatially based on the following conditions: (1) fracture zone must not cross the repository; and (2) the repository must stay away from the fracture zones greater than 50 m. The western region of the fracture zones in the N-S direction with a depth below 200 m from the surface was sufficient for A-KRS repository. Because most of the fracture zones in N-S direction were inclined toward the east, we expected to find a homogeneous rock mass in the western region rather than in the eastern region. The lower left domain of potential domains has more suitable geological and hydrogeological conditions for A-KRS repository.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.626-631
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• 2018

An emergency evacuation support system is used to maintain evacuation routes by pressurizing a space inside screens. In cases of fire, it is important to understand the thermal distributions in the tunnel for preventing system failure. In this study, we numerically investigated the effect of fire on an emergency evacuation support system in a large fabric store with some fire scenarios with different combustibles. The critical temperature for system failures was assumed to be $200^{\circ}C$. As a result, the highest temperature was predicted in the ceiling part due to the effect of a ceiling jet, and the fire safety of the screen was secured at distances of 20 to 30 m according to the heat release rate. To prevent the inflow of smoke into the system, it is necessary to maintain more than 5 Pa if positive pressure inside the smoke screen. The results of this study could be useful for designing an emergency evacuation support system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.600-608
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• 2017

The presence of piping in a levee body allows water seepage to occur by producing a large cavity or water tunnel within it, ultimately resulting in the failure of the river levee and differential settlement. In order to properly cope with river levee failure due to piping and establish a proper remediation method for this problem, it is necessary to analyze the failure mechanism of the river levee due to piping. Therefore, this study analyzed the shape and mechanism of river levee failure due to piping through small-scale and large-scale models and evaluated the seepage pressure distribution characteristics in the hydraulic well, which has been suggested as a remediation method for piping. According to the results of this study, as the safety factor for the piping in the river levee decreased, the river levee failure shape was more clearly shown through the small-scale model test. In the large-scale model test, the type of local damage to the levee due to the piping was identified and the evaluation showed that the hydraulic well had the largest effect on the inhibition of piping below the center of the well. A follow-up study is needed to confirm the reliability of the results. However, it is thought that this study can be utilized as the baseline data for research into the piping-induced river levee failure mechanism and for the preparation of a remediation method.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.177-185
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• 2011

In order to reduce traffic accidents at long road sections involving high risks of traffic accidents, including tunnels, bridges or curves, the National Police Agency have decided a tentative installation and operation of an automated point-to-point speed enforcement system based on cameras at January, 2007. The first system was established at the direction to Kangreung of Dunnae Tunnel at December, 2007. Currently, the automated point-to-point speed enforcement system operates at 11 sections including eight sections on expressways and three sections on national highways. However, there have been few researches on the effects of the system upon the reduction of traffic accidents in a scientific way. To this end, this research effort was initiated to evaluate the effect of the automated point-to-point speed enforcement system on traffic safety by comparing the number of traffic accidents before and after the installation of the system using a comparison-group(C-G) method. Three-year-long traffic accident data for the expressways were collected in order to evaluate the system. As a result, the installation of the system was found to reduce traffic accidents by 49.97% in average.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.431-439
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• 2016

This paper dealt with contents of the quality evaluation method of lattice girder utilizing non-destructive method. Quality evaluation of ordinary lattice girder is performed through the tensile strength test of structural steel and visual inspection. The tensile strength test of structural steel is performed by collecting samples of lattice girder brought into the site, during which lattice girder must be damaged to obtain sample. In addition to such disadvantage, tensile strength tester is not available at the site in most cases, requiring an inconvenient service from test certification agency. In addition, it is substituted by mile sheet issued during the production of structural steel, which inevitably lacks reliability. Furthermore, visual inspection at the site entails a problem of lack of reliability, thereby requiring a method of easily and quickly evaluating the quality of lattice girder without damaging the material. Accordingly, this study comparatively analyzed the yield strength of tensile strength test and the yield strength of instrumented indentation test with same sample. The test results ensured over 95% precision level for the instrumented indentation test, based on which a quality evaluation method based on instrumented indentation test that allowed onsite direct quality evaluation is proposed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2015

As for noise and vibration occurring due to construction near fish farms, engineering and the technical opinions of experts in different areas were excluded in calculating any damage. The victims tend to present only biological consulting-based opinions while construction companies tend to present information on general construction noise and vibration as they have little biological knowledge on fish. So, the National Environmental Dispute Medication Commission presented specific damage standard in 2009 through studies on standard in calculating compensation and damage assessment of farm-raised fish that were affected by noise and vibration. Currently, 140 dB re $1{\mu}Pa$ is accepted as damage standard of underwater noise in the country. This standard is the RMS value of continuous sounds for more than a second, not the impulsive sounds. To look up the data on existing studies, fish showed different reactions to underwater sounds according to the different kinds of fish such as ostariophysan or non-ostariophysan, and pinnipeds or non-pinnipeds. So, this study will present damage standards for impulsive sounds in consideration of the differences in the characteristics of the impulsive and continuous sounds.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.13-30
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• 2013

Increase of pore fluid pressure resulting from injection of $CO_2$ may reactivate pre-existing faults, and the induced seismic activities can raise the safety issues such as seal integrity, restoration of storage capacity, and, in the worst case, removal of previously injected $CO_2$. Thus, fault stability and potential for $CO_2$ leakage need to be assessed at the stage of site selection and planning of injection pressure, based on the results of large-scale site investigations and numerical modeling for various scenarios. In this report, studies on the assessment of fault stability during injection of $CO_2$ were reviewed. The seismic activities associated with an artificial injection of fluids or a release of naturally trapped high-pressure fluids were first examined, and then site investigation methods for the magnitude and orientation of in situ stresses, the distribution and change of pore fluid pressure, and the location of faults were generally summarized. Recent research cases on possibility estimation of fault reactivation, prediction of seismic magnitude, and modeling of $CO_2$ leakage through a reactivated fault were presented.