• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.5-13
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• 2021

Due to population growth and industrial development, the amount of industrial waste is increasing every year. In particular, in a thermal power plant using finely divided coal, a large amount of coal ash is generated after combustion of the coal. Among them, fly ash is recycled as a raw material for cement production and concrete admixture, but about 20% is not utilized and is landfilled. Due to the continuous reclamation of such a large amount of coal ash, it is required to find a correct treatment and recycling plan for the coal ash due to problems of saturation of the landfill site and environmental damage such as soil and water pollution. In recent years, the use of a fluid embankment material that can exhibit an appropriate strength without requiring a compaction operation is increasing. The fluid embankment material is a stable treated soil formed by mixing solidifying materials such as water and cement with soil, which is the main material, and has high fluidity before hardening, so compaction work is not required. In addition, after hardening, it is used for backfilling or filling in places where compaction is difficult because higher strength and earth pressure reduction effect can be obtained compared to general soil. In this study, the possibility of use of fluidized soil using high water content cohesive soil and coal ash is considered. And it is intended to examine the flow characteristics, strength, and bearing capacity characteristics of the material, and to investigate the effect of reducing the earth pressure when applied to an underground burial.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1267-1274
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• 2017

A Controlled Low-Strength Materials (CLSM) is suitable for mine backfilling because it does not require compaction owing to it high fluidity and can be installed quickly. Therefore, a CLSM utilizing $CO_2$-solidified Circulating Fluidzed Bed Combustion (CFBC) coal ash was developed and it's properties were investigated, since. $CO_2$-solidification of CFBC coal ash can inhibit exudation of heavy metals. The chemical composition and specific surface area of Pulverized coal Combustion fly ash and CFBC fly ash were analyzed. The water ratio, compressive strength and length change ratio of CLSM were confirmed. The water ratios differed with the specific surface area of the CLSM. It was confirmed that the porosity of CLSM affected its compressive strength and length change ratio.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.5 s.58
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• pp.359-368
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• 2005

In case the overburden of a tunnel is too low to adopt NATM, cut and cover method generally can be chosen as alternative. However, in tunneling some area with very low or no overburden between two mountains, the cut and cover method requires additional construction of a couple of tunnel portals and the maintenance of portal slopes until backfilling is completed. As a solution for this problem, increasing the tunnel overburden by raising the ground level can be effective. This paper presents the case study for tunneling at C240 site in Taiwan High Speed Railway(THSR) in which soil-cement filling method was used for pre-banking before tunnel excavation. Cement content of filling material was $2\~4\%$ and thickness of filling a round was $130\~250\;mm$. The stability evaluation for the soil-cement slope and concrete lining of low cover tunnel was conducted by numerical analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.449-459
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• 2023

The design and development of underground nuclear waste repositories should cover the performance evaluation of the different components such as the construction materials because the long term stability will depend on their response to the surrounding conditions. In South Korea, Gyeonju bentonite has been proposed as a candidate to be used as buffer and backfilling material, especially in the form of blocks to speed up the construction process. In this study, various cylindrical samples were prepared with different dry density and water content, and their physical and mechanical properties were analyzed and correlated with X-ray CT observations. The main objective was to characterize the samples and establish correlations for non-destructive estimation of physical and mechanical properties through the utilization of X-ray CT images. The results showed that the Uniaxial Compression Strength and the P-wave velocity have an increasing relationship with the dry density. Also, a higher water content increased the values of the measure parameters, especially for the P-wave velocity. The X-ray CT analysis indicated a clear relation between the mean CT value and the dry density, Uniaxial Compression Strength, and P-wave velocity. The effect of the higher water content was also captured by the mean CT value. Also, the relationship between the mean CT value and the dry density was used to plot CT dry densities using CT images only. Moreover, the histograms also provided information about the samples heterogeneity through the histograms' full width at half maximum values. Finally, the particle size and heterogeneity were also analyzed using the Madogram function. This function identified small particles in uniform samples and large particles in some samples as a result of poor mixing during preparation. Also, the μ_max value correlated with the heterogeneity, and higher values represented samples with larger ranges of CT values or particle densities. These image-based tools have been shown to be useful on the non-destructive characterization of bentonite samples, and the establishment of correlations to obtain physical and mechanical parameters solely from CT images.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.5-11
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• 2014

Recently, there have been various lifeline installations constructed in the underground space of urban area due to the effective use of land. For newly installed lifelines or the management of the installed lifelines, many construction activities of excavation and backfilling are observed. Around these area, there are possibilities of collapse or excessive settlement due to the leaking of the pipe or unsatisfactory compaction of backfill material. Besides, construction costs can be saved since the on-site soils are used. The application of this liquidity filling material is not only to the lifeline installation but also to underpin the foundation under the vibrating machinery. On the evaluation of the applicability of this method to this circumstance, the strength should be investigated against the static load from the machine load as well as the vibration load from the activation of the machine. In this study, the applicability of the liquidity fill material on the foundation under the vibrating machinery is assessed via uniaxial compression and resonant column tests. The liquidity filling material consisting of the on-site soils with loess and kaolinite are tested to investigate the static and dynamic characteristics. Furthermore, the applicability of the reclaimed ash categorized as an industrial waste is evaluated for the recycle of the waste to the construction materials. The experimental results show that the shear modulus and 7 day uniaxial strength of the liquidity filling material mixed with reclaimed ash show higher than those with the on-site soils. However, the damping ratio does not show any tendency on the mixed materials.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.17-30
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• 2000

The objective of this study is to evaluate the lateral earth pressure and the stability of small scale retaining wall with waste foundry sand(WFS) mixtures as a controlled low strength materials (CLSM). Three different types of WFS, like Green WFS, Hurane WFS and Coated WFS, were used in this study, and fly ash of Class F type was adopted. To evaluate the lateral earth pressure and the stability of retaining wall, two different samll scale retaining wall tests, which are called an artificially controlled strain method and a natural strain method, were carried out. In case of an artificially controlled strain method, the coefficient of lateral earth pressure, just after backfilling of WF mixtures, was around 0.8 to 1.0, and most of earth pressure was dissipated within 12 hours. In case of a natural strain method, two steps of stage constructions were employed. The mixtures of Hurane WFS and Coated WFS showed fast decrease of earth pressure due to a relatively good drainage. Judging from the sta bility of retaining wall for overturning and sliding, two steps of stage construction for 2 days were enough to finish the backfill of 6-m height of retaining wall. Also, considering the curling effect of WFS mixtures, the stability of retaining wall increased as curling time increased.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2017

There have been a number of water and sewer pipe breakdown reports followed by ground subsidence. Also, the excavating works for construction due to overcrowding of city have been common. Particularly, in urban areas ground becomes unstable because of the lowered lifeline sinkage followed excavation and backfilling. In order to solve the problem, some reinforcement works for ground by rod tamping or grouting have been applied. However, it is hard to predict when the buried utilities in underground will be damaged. Also, there is a limit for the underground exploration and investigation methods. Therefore, in this study, the estimated about the water soluble polymer pouch including poor mixed admixture which is designed to eliminate the dangerous factors. The reinforcement strength of this method was confirmed by verifying three points: meltiness in a certain period, water solubility in the ground water level, and characteristics of the pouch, which can be stored in daily conditions. It is also proved that this method allows to keep the ground from getting weakened in the installation of water and sewer pipe along with back filling materials.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.421-433
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• 2023

The final disposal of spent nuclear fuel(SNF) from nuclear power plants takes place in a deep geological repository. The metal canister encasing the SNF is made of cast iron and copper, and is engineered to effectively isolate radioactive isotopes for a long period of time. The SNF is further shielded by a multi-barrier disposal system comprising both engineering and natural barriers. The deep disposal environment gradually changes to an anaerobic reducing environment. In this environment, sulfide is one of the most probable substances to induce corrosion of copper canister. Stress-corrosion cracking(SCC) triggered by sulfide can carry substantial implications for the integrity of the copper canister, potentially posing a significant threat to the long-term safety of the deep disposal repository. Sulfate can exist in various forms within the deep disposal environment or be introduced from the geosphere. Sulfate has the potential to be transformed into sulfide by sulfate-reducing bacteria(SRB), and this converted sulfide can contribute to the corrosion of the copper canister. Bentonite, which is considered as a potential material for buffering and backfilling, contains oxidized sulfate minerals such as gypsum(CaSO4). If there is sufficient space for microorganisms to thrive in the deep disposal environment and if electron donors such as organic carbon are adequately supplied, sulfate can be converted to sulfide through microbial activity. However, the majority of the sulfides generated in the deep disposal system or introduced from the geosphere will be intercepted by the buffer, with only a small amount reaching the metal canister. Pyrite, one of the potential sulfide minerals present in the deep disposal environment, can generate sulfates during the dissolution process, thereby contributing to the corrosion of the copper canister. However, the quantity of oxidation byproducts from pyrite is anticipated to be minimal due to its extremely low solubility. Moreover, the migration of these oxidized byproducts to the metal canister will be restricted by the low hydraulic conductivity of saturated bentonite. We have comprehensively analyzed and summarized key research cases related to the presence of sulfates, reduction processes, and the formation and behavior characteristics of sulfides and pyrite in the deep disposal environment. Our objective was to gain an understanding of the impact of sulfates and sulfides on the long-term safety of high-level radioactive waste disposal repository.