• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.237-248
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• 2000

Based on the preliminary results from the therm analysis, which is currently carrying, three-dimensional computer simulations using a finite element code, ABAQUS Ver. 5.8, were designed to determine the mechanically stable cavern and deposition hole spacing. Linear elastic modeling for the cases with different cavern and deposition hole spacing were carried out under three different in situ stress conditions. From the simulations, the response of the rock to the stress redistribution after the excavation of the openings could be investigated. Also the optimum cavern and deposition hole spacing could be estimated based on the factor of safety. When the in situ stress determined from the actual stress measurements in Korea were used, the case with cavern spacing of 40m and deposition hole spacing of 3m was in very stable condition, because the factor of safety was calculated as 3.42., When the in situ stress conditions for Sweden and Canada were used, the previous case, they seem to be in stable condition, since the factors of safety are still higher than 1.0. From these results, it was concluded that the rock will not fail even after the stress redistribution.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.87-94
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• 1983

The successful oil storage in the underground cavern is dependent on how to keep the water-tightness around the cavern by the groundwater. If the water-tightness is not secured, gas bubles will leak out and oil migrate to the adjacent empty cavern. An electrical analogy method was employed in studying the influences of the position of horizontal and vertical water curtains, the head of water curtain and the intervals of the cavern spacings and boreholes on the gas leakage and the oil migration into the adjacent empty cavern. The result shows that if the cavern spacing is narrow, the vertical water curtain should be established and if the cavern spacing is more than twice the cavern height, its establishment is not necessary. All the detailed factors required to prevent the oil migration are shown on graphs.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.33-38
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• 1982

A successful operation of underground oil storage cavern depends on water-tightness around cavern by groundwater. If water-tightness is not secured, gas bubbles would leak out and oil would migrate to an adjacent empty cavern. In this research an electrical analogy method was employed to study the influence of shape of cavern on gas leakage and the required natural groundwater level, relative oil level in two neighboring caverns and cavern spacing to prevent oil migration. The results show that gas leakage is prevented from a cavern with a ceiling of large curvature. The required values of factors to curtail the migration of oil are given on a graph.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 2009

Recently the concern about the construction of underground structures such as oil and food storage caverns is increasing in Korea and abroad. The stability of those underground caverns is greatly influenced by shape factor and the size of excavation area as well as the joint conditions. In this study, therefore, the effect of the shape factor of an underground cavern on its stability was analyzed in terms of safety factor. To this end, four different shape factors of a cavern excavated in good rock conditions were investigated and sensitivity analyses were performed based on overburden, lateral earth pressure coefficient, joint spacing, properties, and orientation. The stability of a cavern is evaluated in terms of safety factor estimated numerically based on the shear strength reduction technique. In future, this study is expected to be helpful in designing and evaluating the stability of caverns excavated in discontinuous rock masses.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.481-495
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• 2015

Many hydropower stations in southwest China are located in regions of brittle rock mass with high geo-stresses. Under these conditions deep fractured zones often occur in the sidewalls of the underground caverns of a power station. The theory and methods of fracture and damage mechanics are therefore adopted to study the phenomena. First a flexibility matrix is developed to describe initial geometric imperfections of a jointed rock mass. This model takes into account the area and orientation of the fractured surfaces of multiple joint sets, as well as spacing and density of joints. Using the assumption of the equivalent strain principle, a damage constitutive model is established based on the brittle fracture criterion. In addition the theory of fracture mechanics is applied to analyze the occurrence of secondary cracks during a cavern excavation. The failure criterion, for rock bridge coalescence and the damage evolution equation, has been derived and a new sub-program integrated into the FLAC-3D software. The model has then been applied to the stability analysis of an underground cavern group of a hydropower station in Sichuan province, China. The results of this method are compared with those obtained by using a conventional elasto-plastic model and splitting depth calculated by the splitting failure criterion proposed in a previous study. The results are also compared with the depth of the relaxation and fracture zone in the surrounding rock measured by field monitoring. The distribution of the splitting zone obtained both by the proposed model and by the field monitoring measurements are consistent to the validity of the theory developed herein.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2002

This study aims to establish the methodology for design of an optimum water curtain system of the unlined underground oil storage cavern satisfying the requirements of hydrodynamic performance in a volcanic terrain of the south coastal area. For the optimum water curtain system in the storage facility, the general characteristics of groundwater flow system in the site are quantitatively described, i.e. distribution of hydraulic gradients, groundwater inflow rate into the storage caverns, and hydrogeologic influence area of the cavern. In this study, numerical models such as MODFLOW, FracMan/MAFIC and CONNECTFLOW are used for calculating the hydrogeological stability parameters. The design of a horizontal water curtain system requires considering the distance between water curtain and storage cavern, spacing of the water curtain boreholes, and injection pressure. From the numerical simulations at different scales, the optimum water curtain systems satisfying the containment criteria are obtained. The inflow rates into storage caverns estimated by a continuum model ranged from about 120 m$^3$/day during the operation stage to 130~140m$^3$/day during the construction stage, whereas the inflow rates by a fracture network model are 80~175m$^3$/day. The excavation works in the site will generate the excessive decline of groundwater level in a main fracture zone adjacent to the cavern. Therefore, the vertical water curtain system is necessary for sustaining the safe groundwater level in the fracture zone.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.117-128
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• 2014

Generally, when constructing a tunnel close to existing structures, the tunnel must be built at a constant distance from the structures that is more than width of tunnel to minimize the impact of interference between an existing structures and new tunnel. Spacing of these closed tunnels should be designed considering soil state, size of tunnel and reinforcement method. Particularly when the ground is soft, a care should be taken with the tunnel plans because the closer the tunnel is to the existing structures, the greater the deformation becomes. As methods of reviewing the effect of cavities on the stability of a tunnel, field measurement, numerical analysis and scaled model test can be considered. In the methods, the scaled model test can reproduce the engineering characteristics of a rock in a field condition and the shape of structures using the scale factor even not all conditions cannot be considered. In this study, when construction of a tunnel close to existing structures, the method and considering factors of the scaled model test were studied to predict the actual tunnel behavior in planning stage. Furthermore, model test results were compared with the numerical analysis results for verifying the proposed model test procedure. Also, practical results were derived to verify the stability of a tunnel vis-a-vis cavities through the scaled model test, which assumed spacing distances of 0.25 D, 0.50 D, and 1.00 D between the cavities and tunnel as well as the network state distribution. The spacing distances of 1.0 D is evaluated as the critical distance by the results of model test and numerical analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2022

Excavation-Disturbed Zone (EDZ) is an important design factor in constructing final disposal facilities for spent nuclear fuel, since EDZ affects mechanical stability including a spacing between disposal holes, and the hydraulic properties within EDZ plays a significant role in estimating in-flow rate of groundwater as well as a subsequent corrosion rate of a canister. Thus, it is highly required to characterize in-situ EDZ with precision and control the EDZ occurrence while excavating disposal facilities and constructing relevant underground research facilities. In this report, we not only reviewed EDZ-related researches carried out in the ONKALO facility of Finland but also examined appropriate methods for field inspection and quality control of EDZ occurrence. From the review, GPR can be the most efficient method for in-situ characterization of EDZ since it does not demand drilling a borehole that may disturb a surrounding environment of caverns. And the EDZ occurrence was dominant at a cavern floor and it ranged from 0 to 70 cm. These can provide useful information in developing necessary EDZ-related regulations for domestic disposal facilities.