• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.553-565
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• 2023

As the structure of broken rock mass is complex, with obvious discontinuity and anisotropy, it is generally necessary to reinforce broken rock mass using grouting in underground construction. The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate the mechanical properties of broken rock mass after grouting reinforcement with consideration of the characteristics of broken rock mass (i.e., degree of fragmentation and shape) and a range of reinforcement methods such as relative strength ratio between the broken rock mass and cement-based grout stone body (λ), and volumetric block proportion (VBP) representing the volumetric ratio of broken rock mass and the overall cement grout-broken rock mass mixture after the reinforcement. The experimental results show that the strength and deformation of the reinforced broken rock mass is largely determined by relative strength ratio (λ) and VBP. In addition, the enhancement in compressive strength by grouting is more obvious for broken rock mass with spherical shape under a relatively high strength ratio (e.g., λ=2.0), whereas the shape of rock mass has little influence when the strength ratio is low (e.g., λ=0.1). Importantly, the results indicate that columnar splitting failure and inclined shear failure are two typical failure modes of broken rock mass with grouting reinforcement.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2019

In this paper, simulation tests were conducted with similar materials to study the distribution of residual voids in longwall goaf. Short-time step loading was used to simulate the obvious deformation period in the later stage of arch breeding. Long-time constant loading was used to simulate the rheological stage of the arch forming. The results show that the irregular caving zone is the key area of old goaf for the subsidence control. The evolution process of the stress arch and fracture arch in stope can be divided into two stages: arch breeding stage and arch forming stage. In the arch breeding stage, broken rocks are initially caved and accumulated in the goaf, followed by the step deformation. Arch forming stage is the rheological deformation period of broken rocks. In addition, under the certain loads, the broken rock mass undergoes single sliding deformation and composite crushing deformation. The void of broken rock mass decreases gradually in short-time step loading stage. Under the water lubrication, a secondary sliding deformation occurs, leading to the acceleration of the broken rock mass deformation. Based on above research, the concept of equivalent height of residual voids was proposed, and whose calculation equations were developed. Finally, the conceptual model was verified by the field measurement data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.823-845
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• 2014

Success in the excavation of foundations is commonly known as being very important in asserting stability. Furthermore, when the subjected formation is rocky and the use of explores is required, the demands of successful blasting are multiplied. The quick and correct estimation of excavation's characteristics may help the design of building structures, increasing their safety. The present paper proposes a new classification system which connects blastability and rock mass quality. This new system primarily concerns poor and friable rock mass, heavily broken with mixture of angular and rounded rock pieces. However, it should concern medium and good quality rock mass. The Blastability Quality System (BQS) can be an easy and widely - used tool as it is a quick calculator for blastability index (BI) and rock mass quality. Taking into account the research calculations and the parameters of BQS, what has been at question in this paper is the effect of BI magnitude on a geological structure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.333-352
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• 2017

A comparison study is made between the dynamic properties of an argillaceous siltstone and its grouting-reinforced body. The purpose is to investigate how grout injection can help repair broken soft rocks. A slightly weathered argillaceous siltstone is selected, and part of the siltstone is mechanically crushed and cemented with Portland cement to simulate the grouting-reinforced body. Core specimens with the size of $50mm{\times}38mm$ are prepared from the original rock and the grouting-reinforced body. Impact tests on these samples are then carried out using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus. Failure patterns are analyzed and geotechnical parameters of the specimens are estimated. Based on the experimental results, for the grouting-reinforced body, its shock resistance is poorer than that of the original rock, and most cracks happen in the cementation boundaries between the cement mortar and the original rock particles. It was observed that the grouting-reinforced body ends up with more fragmented residues, most of them have larger fractal dimensions, and its dynamic strength is generally lower. The mass ratio of broken rocks to cement has a significant effect on its dynamic properties and there is an optimal ratio that the maximum dynamic peak strength can be achieved. The dynamic strain-softening behavior of the grouting-reinforced body is more significant compared with that of the original rock. Both the time dependent damage model and the modified overstress damage model are equally applicable to the original rock, but the former performs much better compared with the latter for the grouting-reinforced body. In addition, it was also shown that water content and impact velocity both have significant effect on dynamic properties of the original rock and its grouting-reinforced body. Higher water content leads to more small broken rock pieces, larger fractal dimensions, lower dynamic peak strength and smaller elastic modulus. However, the water content plays a minor role in fractal dimensions when the impact velocity is beyond a certain value. Higher impact loading rate leads to higher degree of fragmentation and larger fractal dimensions both in argillaceous siltstone and its grouting-reinforced body. These results provide a sound basis for the quantitative evaluation on how cement grouting can contribute to the repair of broken soft rocks.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.436-446
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• 2008

The volumetric expansion ratio of rock mass on the subsidence occurrence area can explain why the depth of the surface subsidence is lower than the height of an opening; it is because the empty space of the gangway is filled with the broken rock. But, until now, when the surface subsidence mechanism is studied without consideration of the volumetric expansion ratio, it is usually overlooked that the amount of subsidence occurrence can be overestimated. Therefore, in this study, the authors researched the subsidence occurrence mechanism with a new theoretical approaching method. The volumetric expansion ratio obtained from this method has been applied to the numerical simulations. The authors adopted the UDEC(Universal Distinct Element Code) for their discontinuum numerical analysis, because this program has an advantage for analyzing the behavior of rock discontinuities.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2020

The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rock is a basic parameter in underground engineering design. The disadvantages of this commonly employed laboratory testing method are untimely testing, difficulty in performing core testing of broken rock mass and long and complicated onsite testing processes. Therefore, the development of a fast and simple in situ rock UCS testing method for field use is urgent. In this study, a multi-function digital rock drilling and testing system and a digital core bit dedicated to the system are independently developed and employed in digital drilling tests on rock specimens with different strengths. The energy analysis is performed during rock cutting to estimate the energy consumed by the drill bit to remove a unit volume of rock. Two quantitative relationship models of energy analysis-based core drilling parameters (ECD) and rock UCS (ECD-UCS models) are established in this manuscript by the methods of regression analysis and support vector machine (SVM). The predictive abilities of the two models are comparatively analysed. The results show that the mean value of relative difference between the predicted rock UCS values and the UCS values measured by the laboratory uniaxial compression test in the prediction set are 3.76 MPa and 4.30 MPa, respectively, and the standard deviations are 2.08 MPa and 4.14 MPa, respectively. The regression analysis-based ECD-UCS model has a more stable predictive ability. The energy analysis-based rock drilling method for the prediction of UCS is proposed. This method realized the quick and convenient in situ test of rock UCS.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.583-590
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• 2018

Nowadays, many tunnels have been commissioned for several decades, which require effective inspection methods to assess their health conditions. The ambient vibration test has been widely adopted for the damage identification of concrete structures. In this study, the vibration characters of tunnel lining shells built with forepoling method was analyzed based on the analytical solutions of the Donnell-Mushtari shell theory. The broken rock, foreploing, rock-concrete contacts between rock mass and concrete lining, was represented by elastic boundaries with normal and shear stiffness. The stiffness of weak contacts has significant effects on the natural frequency of tunnel lining. Numerical simulations were also carried out to compare with the results of the analytical methods, showing that even though the low nature frequency is difficult to distinguish, the presented approach is convenient, effective and accurate to estimate the natural frequency of tunnel linings. Influences of the void, the lining thickness and the concrete type on natural frequencies were evaluated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.316-324
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• 2014

In the underground 500 m depth, the high level radioactive waste disposal system is made by boring the tunnel in the base rock and putting the high level waste disposal canister that is the surrounding form with the buffer material. According to the many statistics, it is the tendency that the earthquake increases in the Korean peninsula every year. In case that the earthquake is generated, the disposal canister in the rock mass can be broken due to the shearing force in the underground. Furthermore, a major environmental problems can be caused by the radioactive harmful substances. In this study, the earthquake-proof type buffer material was developed with the protection method safely on the earthquake. The main parameter having an effect on the earthquake-resistant performance was analyzed and the earthquake-proof type buffer material was designed. The shear analysis model was developed and the performance of the earthquake-proof type buffer material was evaluated by using ABAQUS.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.116-122
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• 1992

A comprehensive, nonsteady state, computer simulation program for the environmental conditions in advancing tunnels (the HEADSIM simulation program) is constructed and successfully validated with heat balance amongst all heat sources, and with mass conservation amongst various airflows including the leakage air from ducts, under timedependent variations of inlet air conditions. which include sudden, diurnal and seasonal changes. Heat conduction in the wall strata and face strata is simulated with most complicated boundary conditions using the finite difference method, and the climatic conditions in roadway sections which contain air ducts, booster fan, spray cooler, compressed air pipes, cold water pipes, return water pipes, machinery and broken rock are simulated taking into account the variations of face operation and the heat storage mechanism in the strata. The limitations of simulation time steps and roadway section lengths are defined according to the stability criteria satisfying the principles of thermodynamics. Variations of heat transfer coefficients, which are newly set, and those of wetness factors are taken into account according to the variations of other parameters and the stepwise advance of the face. Newly-derived formulae are used for computing the air duct leakage and the pressure inside of the duct. A new concept of an 'imaginary duct' is introduced to simulate the climatic conditions in tunnels during holiday periods, which directly affect conditions on subsequent working days under the consideration of natural convection. A subsidiary program (the WALLSIM simulation program) is made to compute the dimensionless tunnel surface temperatures and to compare the results with those from analytical approaches, and to demonstrate the stability, convergence and accuracy of the strata heat conduction simulation, adopting the finite difference method. The WALLSIM also has wide applications, including those for the computation of age coefficients.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.52-65
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• 2021

In this study, authors analyzed the vapor cloud explosion induced by propane leak at the PEMIX Terminal, which is the propane storage facility outside of Mexico City. TNT equivalence mass for the leaked 4750 kg propane was estimated to be 9398 kg. Blast parameters such as peak overpressure, positive phase duration, and impact at 40-400 (m) away from the center of the explosion were calculated by applying TNT Equivalency Method and Multi-Energy Method. The probability of damage due to lung damage, eardrum rupture, head impact, and whole-body displacement impact by applying the probit function obtained using blast parameters was evaluated. The peak overpressure obtained using Multi-Energy Method was found to be greater than the peak overpressure obtained by applying the TNT Equivalency Method at all distances considered, but it was evaluated that there was no significant difference from the points above 200 m. The peak overpressure obtained by Multi-Energy Method was computed to assess the extent of damage to the structure, and it was shown that structures within 100 m of the explosion center would collapse completely, and that the glasses of the structures 400 m away would be almost broken. The probability of death due to lung damage was shown to vary depending on a human body's position located in the propagating direction of shock wave, and if there is a reflecting surface in the immediate surroundings of a human body, the probability of death was estimated to be the greatest. The impact of shock wave on lung damage, eardrum rupture, head impact, and whole-body displacement impact was evaluated and found to affect whole-body impact < lung damage < eardrum rupture