• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.104-126
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• 2024

Buffer and backfill play an essential role in isolating high-level radioactive waste and retard the migration of leaked radionuclides in deep geological disposal system. A bentonite mixture, which exhibits a swelling property, is considered for buffer and backfill materials, and excessive groundwater inflow from surrounding rock mass may affect stability and efficiency of their role as an engineered barrier. Therefore, stringent quality control as well as in-situ installation management and inflow water constrol for buffer and backfill are required to ensure the safety of deep disposal facilities. In this study, we analyzed the design requirements of buffer and backfill by examining various laboratory tests and a field study of the Steel Tunnel Test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden. We introduced how to control the quality of buffer and backfill construction in-field, and also presented how to handle excessive groundwater inflow into disposal caverns, validating the groundwater retention capacity of bentonite pellets and the effectiveness of geotexile use.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.423-432
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• 2018

Since the Daegu subway fire accident, people's perception of safety has increased, and all materials inside the train have been changed to incombustible materials. However, there is still a lack of development of fire extinguishing systems. Train components are mostly made of steel plates, and therefore it is very difficult to extinguish the train fire by using general fire extinguishing equipment. In this regard, this paper investigated rapid and easy methods of extinguishing the train fire by using compressed air foam systems through full-scale fire tests. To extinguish the fire of train at rescue station, window breakers were used to quickly destroy the train windows, and the compressed air foam system was inserted inside the train. As a result, the train windows were destroyed in 5 seconds, and the 11.88-MW fire was put out in 30 seconds by the compressed air foam discharged from the compressed air foam system inserted inside the train. For the future work, there is a need for further experimental studies to prevent the spread of fire and protect tunnel structures with the use of compressed air foam systems.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.659-677
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• 2022

Hydrogen is emerging as a next-generation energy source and development and supply of FCEV (hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle) is expected to occur rapidly. Accordingly, measures to respond to hydrogen car accidents are required and researches on the safety of hydrogen cars are being actively conducted. In this study, In this study, we developed a hydrogen car accident scenarios suitable for domestic conditions for the safety evaluation of hydrogen car in road tunnels through analysis of existing experiments and research data and analyzed and presented the hazard distance according to the accident results of the hydrogen car accident scenarios. The accident results according to the hydrogen car accident scenario were classified into minor accidents, general fires, jet flames and explosions. The probability of occurrence of each accident results are predicted to be 93.06%, 1.83%, 2.25%, and 2.31%. In the case of applying the hydrogen tank specifications of FCEV developed in Korea, the hazard distance for explosion pressure (based on 16.5 kPa) is about 17.6 m, about 6 m for jet fire, up to 35 m for fireball in road tunnel with a standard cross section (72 m²).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.930-938
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• 2018

Underwater noise radiated from submarines is directly related to the probability of being detected by the sonar of an enemy vessel. Therefore, minimizing the noise of a submarine is essential for improving survival outcomes. For modern submarines, as the speed and size of a submarine increase and noise reduction technology is developed, interest in flow noise around the hull has been increasing. In this study, a noise analysis technique was developed to predict flow noise generated around a submarine shape considering the free surface effect. When a submarine is operated near a free surface, turbulence-induced noise due to the turbulence of the flow and bubble noise from breaking waves arise. First, to analyze the flow around a submarine, VOF-based incompressible two-phase flow analysis was performed to derive flow field data and the shape of the free surface around the submarine. Turbulence-induced noise was analyzed by applying permeable FW-H, which is an acoustic analogy technique. Bubble noise was derived through a noise model for breaking waves based on the turbulent kinetic energy distribution results obtained from the CFD results. The analysis method developed was verified by comparison with experimental results for a submarine model measured in a Large Cavitation Tunnel (LCT).

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.41-53
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• 2022

In the excavation work like blasting/excavator work bordering on the urban railway, the dynamic safety of railway structures like tunnel, open-cut box structure and elevated bridge was investigated by numerical analysis in this study. The practically presented criteria on influential zones at the blasting work in the construction industry was numerically checked in cases of the precise vibration-controlled blasting (type II) and the small scale vibration-controlled blasting (type III) and it was shown that the criteria on blasting work methods needed to be supplemented through continuous field tests and numerical analyses. The influence of excavation vibration by mechanical excavators was especially investigated in case of earth auger and breaker. The numerical analysis of tunnel shows that the criteria on vibration velocities from the regression analysis of field test values was conservative. The amplification phenomenon of excavating vibration velocity was shown passing through the backfilling soil between the earth auger and the open-cut box structure. It was shown that the added-vibration on the superstructure of elevated bridge was occurred at the bottom of pile like earthquake when the excavator vibration was arriving at the pile toe. The systematic and continuous research on the vibration effect from excavating works was needed for the safety of urban railway structures and nearby facilities.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.109-125
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• 2023

Disposal repository for high-level radioactive waste secures its safety by means of engineered and natural barriers. The performance of these barriers should be tested and verified through various aspects in terms of short and/or long-term. KAERI has been conducting various in-situ demonstrations in KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel). After completing previous experiment, a conceptual design of an improved in-situ experiment, i.e. K-COIN (KURT experiment of THMC COupled and INteraction), was established and detailed planning for the experiment is underway. Preliminary characterizations were conducted in KURT for siting a K-COIN test site. 15 boreholes with a depth of about 20 m were drilled in three research galleries in KURT and intact rock specimens were prepared for laboratory tests. Using the specimens, physical measurements, uniaxial compression, indirect tension, and triaxial compression tests were conducted. As a result, specific gravity, porosity, elastic wave velocities, uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, Brazilian tensile strength, cohesion, and internal friction angle were estimated. Statistical analyses revealed that there did not exist meaningful differences in intact rock properties according to the drilled sites and the depth. Judging from the uniaxial compressive strength, which is one of the most important properties, all the specimens were classified as very strong rock so that mechanical safety was secured in all the regions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2022

An increased number of cases have occurred in applying ICT technology in the resource development field due to factors such as safety, eco-friendliness, and low cost since the 2000s. In Korea, the 2nd mining master plan specified the significance of converging the full cycle of mining and ICT, while the 3rd mining master plan highlighted ICT and smart mining such as supporting the supply of an ICT mining device and introducing demonstrational smart mining. This study introduces the application of an ICT device and safety system operation in the Jangseong underground mine of Korea Cement Co., Ltd. Currently, Jangseong mine combines two different kinds of 3D equipment including the handheld 3D scanner and multi-station that provides both the measurement and 3D scanning to perform a 3D measurement of the mine. Taken from the 3D measurement of the mine, it is now possible to identify any hazardous areas and abnormalities in different directions and analyze the safety of the crown pillar between two stopes in different level. Besides, the real-time location tracking and communications system have established highly efficient rescue and evacuation plans to effectively deal with any accidents in the mine.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.173-185
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• 2015

This study aims to investigate the characteristics and types of car accidents and establish a prediction model by analyzing 456 car accidents having occurred in the 11 tunnels in Busan, through statistical analysis techniques. The results of this study can be summarized as below. As a result of analyzing the characteristics of car accidents, it was found that 64.9% of all the car accidents took place in the tunnels between 08:00 and 18:00, which was higher than 45.8 to 46.1% of the car accidents in common roads. As a result of analyzing the types of car accidents, the car-to-car accident type was the majority, and the sole-car accident type in the tunnels was relatively high, compared to that in common roads. Besides, people at the age between 21 and 40 were most involved in car accidents, and in the vehicle type of the first party to car accidents, trucks showed a high proportion, and in the cloud cover, rainy days or cloudy days showed a high proportion unlike clear days. As a result of analyzing the principal components of car accident influence factors, it was found that the first principal components were road, tunnel structure and traffic flow-related factors, the second principal components lighting facility and road structure-related factors, the third principal factors stand-by and lighting facility-related factors, the fourth principal components human and time series-related factors, the fifth principal components human-related factors, the sixth principal components vehicle and traffic flow-related factors, and the seventh principal components meteorological factors. As a result of classifying car accident spots, there were 5 optimized groups classified, and as a result of analyzing each group based on Quantification Theory Type I, it was found that the first group showed low explanation power for the prediction model, while the fourth group showed a middle explanation power and the second, third and fifth groups showed high explanation power for the prediction model. Out of all the items(principal components) over 0.2(a weak correlation) in the partial correlation coefficient absolute value of the prediction model, this study analyzed variables including road environment variables. As a result, main examination items were summarized as proper traffic flow processing, cross-section composition(the width of a road), tunnel structure(the length of a tunnel), the lineal of a road, ventilation facilities and lighting facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.28-33
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• 2020

Recently, the overseas construction market has been actively promoted for about 10 years, and overseas dam construction has been continuously performed. For the economic and safe construction of the dam, it is important to prepare the main dam construction plan considering the design frequency of the diversion tunnel and the cofferdam. In this respect, the prediction of river level during the rainy season is significant. Since most of the overseas dam construction sites are located in areas with poor infrastructure, the most efficient and economic method to predict the water level in dam construction is to use the upstream water level. In this study, a linear regression model, which is one of the simplest statistical methods, was proposed and examined to predict the downstream level from the upstream level. The Pyeongchang River basin, which has the characteristics of the upper stream (mountain stream), was selected as the target site and the observed water level in Pyeongchang and Panwoon gaging station were used. A regression equation was developed using the water level data set from August 22th to 27th, 2017, and its applicability was tested using the water level data set from August 28th to September 1st, 2018. The dependent variable was selected as the "level difference between two stations," and the independent variable was selected as "the level of water level in Pyeongchang station two hours ago" and the "water level change rate in Pyeongchang station (m/hr)". In addition, the accuracy of the developed equation was checked by using the regression statistics of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Adjusted Coefficient of Determination (ACD), and Nach Sutcliffe efficiency Coefficient (NSEC). As a result, the statistical value of the linear regression model was very high, so the downstream water level prediction using the upstream water level was examined in a highly reliable way. In addition, the results of the application of the water level change rate (m/hr) to the regression equation show that although the increase of the statistical value is not large, it is effective to reduce the water level error in the rapid level rise section. Accordingly, this is a significant advantage in estimating the evacuation water level during main dam construction to secure safety in construction site.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2017

The factor of safety (FOS) is commonly used as an index to quantitatively state the degree of safety of various rock structures. Therefore it is important to understand the definition and characteristics of the adopted FOS because the calculated FOS may be different according to the definition of FOS even if it is estimated under the same stress condition. In this study, four local factors of safety based on maximum shear stress, maximum shear strength, stress invariants, and maximum principal stress were defined using the Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown failure criteria. Then, the variation characteristics of each FOS along five stress paths were investigated. It is shown that the local FOS based on the shear strength, which is widely used in the stability analysis of rock structures, results in a higher FOS value than those based on the maximum principal stress and the stress invariants. This result implies that the local FOS based on the maximum shear stress or the stress invariants is more necessary than the local FOS based on the shear strength when the conservative rock mechanics design is required. In addition, it is shown that the maximum principal stresses at failure may reveal a large difference depending on the stress path.