• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.265-270
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• 2018

This study was to measure the exposure of diesel vehicle drivers to elemental carbon (EC) as an indicator of diesel particulate matter (DPM) emitted from diesel vehicles in an underground coal mine over 3 years as per NIOSH Method 5040. Our study results (range $10{\mu}g/m^3-377{\mu}g/m^3$ for the loader drivers, $19{\mu}g/m^3-162{\mu}g/m^3$ for the SMV drivers) were similar or less than previous study results (range $5{\mu}g/m^3-2,200{\mu}g/m^3$) for normal mine operations. From this study results, it appeared that the exposures decreased in the second and the third year. It is thought that the reasons for the decreased personal DPM (EC) exposures over the 3 years were related to the following recommendations; more frequent monitoring and maintenance of the diesel vehicles and their DPM filtration systems, more consistent monitoring of the mine's ventilation system and changes of work practices such as minimizing the opening of diesel vehicle windows. An educational program on adverse health effects of exposure to DPM and use of respiratory protection (P2 respirators) also assisted in minimizing driver exposure to DPM.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.372-386
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• 2018

The air quality near the backfilled site area is significantly deteriorated during and even after the curing period of the backfill materials. Hazardous gases such as NH3 and CO2 may leak out prolongedly from the mined-out sites backfilled with the composite carbonate-based material; leakage can be observed at the underground working sites as well as on the surface. At operating mines, underground gas leakage will severely aggravate the workplace environment. The ventilation schemes should supply sufficient air to dilute the contaminated air, and control the toxic gas leakage and dispersion. This study shows the applicability of pressurization ventilation system to control gas leakage and dispersion at the backfilled underground mine site.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1003-1020
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• 2017

Estimation of groundwater inflow into underground opening is of critical importance for the design and construction of underground structures. Groundwater inflow into a pilot underground storage facility in China was estimated using analytical equations, numerical modeling and field measurement. The applicability of analytical and numerical methods was examined by comparing the estimated and measured results. Field geological investigation indicated that in local scale the high groundwater inflows are associated with the appearance of open joints, fractured zone or dykes induced by shear and/or tensile tectonic stresses. It was found that 8 groundwater inflow spots with high inflow rates account for about 82% of the total rate for the 9 caverns. On the prediction of the magnitude of groundwater inflow rate, it was found that could both (Finite Element Method) FEM and (Discrete Element Method) DEM perform better than analytical equations, due to the fact that in analytical equations simplified assumptions were adopted. However, on the prediction of the spatial distribution estimation of groundwater inflow, both analytical and numerical methods failed to predict at the present state. Nevertheless, numerical simulations would prevail over analytical methods to predict the distribution if more details in the simulations were taken into consideration.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.93-108
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• 1998

In this study, the analytic solutions and numerical methods were used to estimate the shape and size effects on the stability of underground openings. The stability of underground openings was evaluated by scrutinizing the effects of the rock mass quality, the state of in-situ stresses and the lateral earth pressure coefficient on the displacement, the stress concentration and the plastic region developed in the vicinity of the openings. The analytic solutions have shown that the stress concentration factor is inversely proportional to the radius of curvature of openings. Through parametric study on the various shapes and sizes of underground openings the characteristics of the controlling factors concerned with the stability were analyzed. Then, the study was extended to the horseshoe-shaped openings commonly used for under ground storage. Through the extended study the effects of the stress ratio and the height-towidth ratio of openings on the maximum displacement and plastic region developed around the openings were estimated. The results have shorn that the height-to-width ratio of domestic storage caverns can be increased economically without stability problem, as far as the lateral earth pressure coefficient is appropriate.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.15-29
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• 2010

Spalling is a kind of instability phenomenon of surrounding rock around underground openings subjected to high in-situ stress according to the development of extension fractures. Three kinds of spalling criteria have been presented so far; however, all spalling criteria have the range of values so that the fuzziness and vagueness of spalling criterion cannot be avoided. In this study, a new fuzzy probability model is proposed to predict the probability of spalling in a systematic way by using fuzzy probability theory. Many of the underground opening projects worldwide are evaluated with the proposed method. Prediction results expressed as the spalling probability agree well with the in-situ observations. In particular, a new fuzzy probability model considering all three evaluation indices of spalling by adopting weighting factors based on relative reliability among three evaluation indices is able to resolve erroneous prediction of spalling by choosing only one prediction method. Moreover, the more reasonable value of spalling probability could have been obtained by adopting the modified damage index to the newly proposed fuzzy probability model.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.273-283
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• 2003

Fissured rock and soft ground always suggest, problems in the construction of the underground space. The stress release of the weak underground material by opening the underground space with a soft ground, fissures and joints can lead to the failure of the opening. Grouting of the weak rock and the soft ground, which is a process of injecting some bonding agents into the soft ground, is one of the measures to reinforce the soft ground and to prohibit the failure of the underground construction due to the stress release. The proper installation of the grouting is essential to ensuring the safety of the tunneling operation, so that the evaluation of the grouting performance is very significant. The general procedure of evaluating the grouting is coring the grouted section and measuring the compression strength of the core. However, sometimes when the grouted section is at the crown of the tunnel and the grouting is installed at a wide section, the coring is not good enough. This study is oriented to propose a new and a non-destructive procedure of evaluating the grouting performance. The proposed method is based on the wave propagation of elastic waves, and evaluates the shear stiffness of the ground and investigates the anomalies such as voids and cracks. The SASW ( Spectral-Analysis-of-Surface-Waves) method is one of the candidate s to make the inspection of the pouting performance, and is adopted in this study. The practical grouting activity was monitored by SASW method, and the proposed method was applied to the inspection of the grouting performance to check the verification of the proposed method.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.279-290
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• 2004

The differential quadrature method (DQM) for a system of coupled differential equations governing the elastic stability of thin-walled curved members is presented, and is applied to computation of the eigenvalues of out-of-plane buckling of curved beams subjected to uniformly distributed radial loads including a warping contribution. Critical loads with warping, which were found to be significant, are calculated for a single-span wide-flange beam with various end conditions, opening angles, and stiffness parameters. The results are compared with the exact methods available. New results are given for the case of both ends clamped and clamped-simply supported ends without comparison since no data are available The differential quadrature method gives good accuracy and stability compared with previous theoretical results.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.194-203
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• 1999

The axial stress in rock bolt, the shear stress at the bolt-grout interface and the neutral point are analyzed to understand the mechanical behavior of rook bolt. To analyze the support effects of rock bolt in various geological conditions, numerical analyses are performed with regard to bolt spacing and bolt length in several geological conditions and tunnel sizes. Through the numerical analyses, the distributions of maximum tensile stress and shear stress are determined. And the excavation width of underground opening affects the position of the neutral point. In the circular opening supported by pattern bolting, the increase of confining pressure, the reduction of plastic zone, and that of ground displacement are determined by using the radial stress increase ratio, the plastic zone reduction ratio and the displacement reduction ratio respectively. The results of this study can be applied to a practical tunnel design through understanding of the trends of these support effects.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.151-165
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• 2021

Grouting, which is applied for the increase of ground strength and the decrease of permeability, is complex process because of several reasons, so the process needs to be elaborated. Injection process in consideration of ground condition and optimization of grouting sequence is essential. In this study, GIN (Grouting Intensity Number), multiple of injected grout volume and pressure, is revised to consider injection pressure reduction and joint opening during grouting process. A revised GIN process is evaluated through a field test. A revised GIN, considering ground condition, injection pressure, follows GIN envelope and produces rational grouting process. The result of a revised GIN reduces permeability of the ground in the order of 10^-1~10^-2 cm/sec.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.91-104
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• 2014

An Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ), in which rock properties are permanently changed due to blasting impact or stress redistribution, can influence the behavior and stability of structures. In this study, the mechanical stability of an underground opening was simulated by using FLAC, which is a two-dimensional modeling code, with a consideration of EDZ. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out with fractional factorial design. From the modeling, it was found that the behavior and the stability of an underground tunnel are strongly dependent on the existence of the EDZ. The sensitivity analysis showed that the key parameters affecting the factor of safety around the tunnel are in-situ stress ratio, depth, cohesion, reduction ratio, internal friction angle, and height and width of the tunnel. It is necessary to consider the EDZ, which can significantly affect mechanical stability in tunnel design.