• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.29-39
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• 2022

This study investigates the behavior of a circular vertical shaft wall in the absence and presence of a groundwater table. The effects of wall deflection, backfill settlement, and earth pressure distribution around the circular vertical shaft caused by sequential excavations were quantified. The vertical shaft was numerically simulated for different excavation depths of the bearing layer (weathered soil, weathered rock, soft rock) and transient and steady-state flows in the absence of a groundwater table. The backfill settlements and influential area were much larger under transient flow conditions than in steady-state flow. On the contrary, the horizontal wall deflection was much larger in steady state than in the transient state. Moreover, less settlement was induced as the excavation depth increased from weathered soil to weathered rock to the soft rock layer. Finally, the horizontal stresses under steady- and transient-state flow conditions were found to exceed Rankine's earth pressure. This effect was stronger in the deeper rock layers than in the shallow soil layers.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.717-729
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• 2018

Considering the stability of the ground in the process of excavation design is essential because there is a risk of basal heave due to the load of the surrounding ground during the vertical excavation. However, calculation of the factor of safety for basal heave should be performed with two-dimensional equation, and the equation cannot reflect three-dimensional shape of vertical excavation. In this study, an equation for factor of safety for the basal heave was proposed with considering the effect of three-dimensional shape. It is confirmed that the equation can more appropriately reflect the basal heave stability 3D circular vertical excavation than the existing equation. Using the equation proposed in this study, it is possible to derive an appropriate factor of safety according to the 3D excavation shape during the circular vertical shaft excavation.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.431-450
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• 2011

When a circular vertical shaft is constructed below the groundwater level, additional forces caused by groundwater flow besides horizontal effective stresses will act on the wall. The inward direction of the groundwater flow will be inclined to the vertical wall and its direction will change depending on the wall depth. In this paper, to figure out the effect of seepage forces acting on the circular vertical shaft, the slope of the inclined flow varying with the depth is divided into vertical and horizontal components to derive the coefficient of earth pressure considering the seepage pressure and to obtain the vertical stress by taking the seepage pressure into account. The control volume in this study is assumed to be the same with that of the dry ground condition within which the earth pressure is acting on the wall by the creation of the plastic zone during shaft excavation. An example study shows that the vertical stress increases by about 1.4 times and the horizontal earth pressure increases up to 2.5 times compared to the dry ground condition. The estimated values from the proposed equation considering seepage forces and the calculated values from numerical analysis with "effective stress plus seepage force" show similar values, which verifies appropriateness of the proposed equation to estimate the earth pressure under the seepage condition.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.23-31
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyze earth pressure acting on a circular shaft-tunnel considering arching effect by centrifuge modeling test on sands. The centrifuge testing method provides a way to model an in-situ stress state condition with a stress gradient within a laboratory specimen. A small-scale model of circular shaft-tunnel, which has a real diameter of 6.0 m and height of 15.0 m, was designed and tested twice under 75g-level. Additionally, an effect of excavation was presented by separating two segments of circular shaft wall to find behavioral properties and strength of earth pressure along with excavating ground. The test results were compared with those of the proposed earth pressure equation. The test results showed that earth pressure decreased by about 70% in comparison with existing two-dimensional earth pressure. This fact might be attributed to three-dimensional arching effects.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2009

Several researches have been done to estimate the earth pressure on a vertical circular shaft considering three dimensional arching effect and verified them by conducting model tests. However, any equation suggested so far is not applicable in case of multi-layered soils and/or C-${\phi}$ soils. In this study, new equation for estimating the earth pressure acting on the vertical shaft in c-${\phi}$ soils is proposed. A parametric study is performed to investigate the significance of the cohesion when estimating the coefficient of earth pressure in C-${\phi}$ soils and estimating earth pressures in vertical shafts. A method which can estimate the earth pressure on vertical shafts in layered soils is also proposed by assuming a failure surface in layered soils and using the modified equation. This paper is Part I of companion papers focusing on the theoretical aspect of model developments; the experimental verification will be made in Part II.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.153-167
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• 2024

Recently the ground settlement has been increasing in urban area according to development. And, this may attribute a groundwater level drawdown. This study presents an analysis of groundwater level drawdown for circular vertical shaft excavation of ｢◯◯◯◯ double track railway build transfer operate project｣. And, in-situ monitoring data and numerical analysis were compared. So, if we examine the groundwater level drawdown in design, ground conditions should be applied so that the site situation can be reflected. And, groundwater level should be considered a seasonal measurement in order to apply the appropriate groundwater level. It was confirmed a similar predicted value to groundwater level drawdown of in-situ monitoring data.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.129-144
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• 2010

The earth pressure acting on the vertical shaft is less than that acting on the retaining wall due to three dimensional arching effect. Thus, it might be essential to estimate the earth pressure actually acting on the shaft when designing the vertical shaft. In this paper, large-sized model tests were conducted as Part II of companion papers to verify the newly suggested earth pressure equation proposed by Kim et al. (2009: Part I of companion papers) that can be used when designing the vertical shaft in cohesionless soils as well as in c-$\phi$ soils and multi-layered soils. The newly developed model test apparatus was designed to be able to simulate staged shaft excavation. Model tests were performed by varying the radius of vertical shaft in dry soil. Moreover, tests on c-$\phi$ soils and on multi-layered soils were also performed; in order to induce apparent cohesion to the cohesionless soil, we add some water to the dry soil to make the soil partially-saturated before depositing by raining method. Experimental results showed a load transfer from excavated ground to non-excavated zone below dredging level due to arching effect when simulating staged excavation. It was also found that measured earth pressure was far smaller than estimated if excavation is done at once; the final earth pressure measured after performing staged excavation was larger and matched with that estimated from the newly proposed equation. Measured results in c-$\phi$ soils and in multi-layered soils showed reduction in earth pressures due to apparent cohesion effect and showed good matches with analytical results.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.231-245
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• 2022

When vertical shafts are constructed in soft clay with low strength, there is a risk of basal heave, which causes the excavation surface to heave due to the low bearing capacity of the ground against the imbalance of earth pressure at the excavation surface. Methods of deriving a safety factor have been proposed to evaluate the stability against the basal heave. However, there are limitations in that it is difficult to accurately evaluate the heave stability because many assumptions are included in the theoretical derivation. In this study, assuming that a circular vertical shaft is constructed in soft clay, the existing safety factor equation proposed through a theoretical approach was supplemented. Bearing capacity according to the shaft geometry, inhomogeneity of the soil, and the effect of soil plug were considered theoretically and applied in a previous safety factor equation. A three-dimensional numerical analysis was conducted to simulate the occurrence of basal heave and review the supplemented equation through various case studies. Several series of case studies were conducted targeting various factors affecting heave stability. It was verified that the additionally considered characteristics were properly reflected in the supplemented equation. Furthermore, the effects of each factor constituting the safety factor equation were examined using the results of the numerical analysis performed by simulating various cases. It was confirmed that considering the undrained shear strength increment according to depth had the most significant effect on the calculation of the safety factor.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.879-896
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• 2016

A new earth pressure equation considering the arching effect in $c-{\phi}$ soils was proposed for the accurate calculation of earth pressure on circular vertical shafts. The arching effect and the subsequent load recovery phenomenon occurring due to multi-step excavation were quantitatively investigated through laboratory tests. The new earth pressure equation was verified by comparing the test results with the earth pressures predicted by new equation in various soil conditions. Resulting from testing by using multi-step excavation, the arching effect and load recovery were clearly observed. The test results in $c-{\phi}$ soil showed that even a small amount of cohesion can cause the earth pressure to decrease significantly. Therefore, predicting earth pressure without considering such cohesion can lead to overestimation of earth pressure. The test results in various ground conditions demonstrated that the newly proposed equation, which enables consideration of cohesion as appropriate, is the most reliable equation for predicting earth pressure in both ${\phi}$ soil and $c-{\phi}$ soil. The comparison of the theoretical equations with the field data measured on a real construction site also highlighted the best-fitness of the theoretical equation in predicting earth pressure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.143-155
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• 2007

The earth pressure acting on a circular shaft wall is smaller than that acting on the wall in plane strain condition due to the three dimensional axi-symmetric arching effect. Accurate estimation of the earth pressure is required for the design of the shaft wall. In this study, the stress model considering the decrease of earth pressure due to the horizontal and vertical arching effect and the influence of shape ratio (shaft height/radius) is proposed. In addition, model test on the sandy soil is conducted and a comparison is made between the stress model and the test results. The comparison shows that the proposed stress model is in agreement with test results; decrease of shape ratio (increase of radius) leads to stress state equal to the plane strain condition and approximate stress distribution is found between stress model and model test results.