• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2003

Wing and secondary cracks are unique types of cracks observed in rock masses subjected to uniaxial and biaxial compressive loading conditions. In this study, morphological features of wing and secondary cracks developed in gypsum specimens are investigated in the macro and micro scales. Along the path of wing crack, microtensile cracks are observed. Microtensile cracks coalesce with pores and show branch phenomenon. From the onset of the wing crack, multiple initiations of microtensile cracks are observed. Microtensile cracks show tortuous propagation paths and relatively constant aperture of the cracks during the propagation. It is shown that microtensile cracks propagate by splitting failure. At the micro scale, microfsults are observed in the path of the secondary cracks. Along the path of the secondary cracks, separation of grains and conglomerate grains, oblique microfaults, and irregular aperture of microfault are observed. These features show that the secondary cracks are produced in shear mode. The measured sizes of fracture process zone across the propagation direction near the tip of wing and secondary cracks range from 10$\mu{m}$ to 20$\mu{m}$ far wing cracks and from 100$\mu{m}$ to 200$\mu{m}$ for secondary cracks, respectively.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.52-63
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• 2003

Discontinuities such as faults, fractures and joints in rock mass play the dominant role in the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the rock mass. The key factors that influence on the flow of groundwater are hydraulic and geometric characteristics of discontinuities and their connectivity. In this study, a program that analyzes groundwater flow in the 3D discontinuity network was developed on the assumption that the discontinuity characteristics such as density, trace length, orientation and aperture have particular distribution functions. This program generates discontinuities in a three-dimensional space and analyzes their connectivity and groundwater flow. Due to the limited computing capacity In this study, REV was not exactly determined, but it was inferred to be greater than 25$\times$25$\times$25 ㎥. By calculating the extent of aperture that influences on the groundwater flow, it was found that the discontinuities with the aperture smaller than 30% of the mean aperture had little influence on the groundwater flow. In addition, there was little difference in the equivalent hydraulic conductivity for the the two cases when considering and not considering the boundary effect. It was because the groundwater flow was mostly influenced by the discontinuities with large aperture. Among the parameters considered in this study, the length, aperture, and orientation of discontinuities had the greatest influence on the equivalent hydraulic conductivity of rock mass in their order. In case of existence of a fault in rock mass, elements of the equivalent hydraulic conductivity tensor parallel to the fault fairly increased in their magnitude but those perpendicular to the fault were increased in a very small amount at the first stage and then converged.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.157-166
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• 2021

This paper aims at the temperature and slenderness ratio effects on physical and mechanical properties of Beishan granite. A series of uniaxial compression tests with various slenderness ratios and temperatures were carried out, and the acoustic emission signal was also collected. As the temperature increases, the fracture aperture of intercrystalline cracks gradually increases, and obvious transcrystalline cracks occurs when T > 600℃. The failure patterns change from tensile failure mode to ductile failure mode with the increasing temperature. The elastic modulus decreases with the temperature and increases with slenderness ratio, then tends to be a constant value when T = 1000℃. However, the peak strain has the opposite evolution as the elastic modulus under the effects of temperature and slenderness ratio. The uniaxial compression strength (UCS) changes a little for the low-temperature specimens of T < 400℃, but a significant decrease happens when T = 400℃ and 800℃ due to phase transitions of mineral. The evolution denotes that the critical brittle-ductile transition temperature increases with slenderness ratio, and the critical slenderness ratio corresponding to the characteristic mechanical behavior tends to be smaller with the increasing temperature. Additionally, the AE quantity also increases with temperature in an exponential function.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.42-58
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• 2001

In order to protect the environment from waste disposal activities, the prediction of the flux and flow paths of the contaminants from underground facilities should be assessed as accurately as possible. Especially, the prediction of the pathways and travel times of the nuclides from high level radioactive wastes in a deep repository to biosphere is one of the primary tasks for assessing the ultimate safety and performance of the repository. Since the contaminants are mainly transported with groundwater along the discontinuities developed within rock mass, the characteristics of groundwater flow through discontinuities is important for the prediction of contaminant fates as well as safety assessment of a repository. In this study, the actual fracture network could be effectively generated based on in situ data by separating geometric parameter and hydraulic parameter. The calculated anisotropic hydraulic conductivity was applied to a 3D porous medium model to calculate the path flow and travel time of the large studied area with the consideration of the complex topology in the area. Using the model, the pathways and travel times for groundwater were analyzed. From this study, it was concluded that the suggested techniques and procedures for predicting the pathways and travel times of groundwater from underground facilities to biosphere is acceptable and those can be applied to the safety assessment of a repository for radioactive wastes.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.161-170
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• 2012

To provide domestic values of input parameters in a safety assessment of radioactive waste disposal under domestic deep underground environments, various kinds of experiments have been carried out under KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) conditions. The input parameters were classified, and some of them were selected for this study by the criteria of importance. The domestic experimental data under KURT environments were given top priority in the data review process. Foreign data under similar conditions to KURT were also gathered. The collected data were arranged and the statistical calculations were processed. The properties and distribution of the data were explained and compared to foreign values in view of their validity. The following parameters were analysed: failure time and early time failure rate of a container, solubility of nuclides, porosity and density of the buffer, and distribution coefficients of nuclides in the geomedia, hydraulic conductivity, diffusion depth of nuclides, groundwater flow rate, fracture aperture, length of internal fracture, and width of faulted rock mass in the host rock.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 2020

An optical televiewer is a geophysical logging device that produces continuous high-resolution full-azimuth images of a borehole wall using a light-emitting-diode and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensor to provide valuable information on subsurface discontinuities. Recently, borehole imaging logging has been applied in many fields, including ground subsidence monitoring, rock mass integrity evaluation, stress-induced fracture detection, and glacial annual-layer measurements in polar regions. Widely used commercial borehole imaging logging systems typically have limitations depending on equipment specifications, meaning that it is necessary to clearly verify the scope of applications while maintaining appropriate quality control for various borehole conditions. However, it is difficult to directly check the accuracy, implementation, and reliability for outcomes, as images derived from an optical televiewer constitute in situ data. In this study, we designed and constructed a modular fractured borehole model having similar conditions to a borehole environment to report unprecedented results regarding reliable data acquisition and processing. We investigate sonde magnetometer accuracy, color realization, and fracture resolution, and suggest data processing methods to obtain accurate aperture measurements. The experiment involving the fractured borehole model should enhance not only measurement quality but also interpretations of high-resolution and reliable optical imaging logs.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.195-202
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• 2018

Many laboratory experiments on crack propagation under uniaxial loading and biaxial loading have been conducted in the past using transparent materials such as resin, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), etc. However, propagation behaviors of three-dimensional (3D) cracks in rock or rock-like materials under tri-axial loading are often considerably different. In this study, a series of true tri-axial loading tests on the rock-like material with two semi-ellipse pre-existing cracks were performed in laboratory to investigate the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics and propagation characteristics of 3D crack groups influenced by intermediate principal stress. Compared with previous experiments under uniaxial loading and biaxial loading, the tests under true tri-axial loading showed that shear cracks, anti-wing cracks and secondary cracks were the main failure mechanisms, and the initiation and propagation of tensile cracks were limited. Shear cracks propagated in the direction parallel to pre-existing crack plane. With the increase of intermediate principal stress, the critical stress of crack initiation increased gradually, and secondary shear cracks may no longer coalesce in the rock bridge. Crack aperture decreased with the increase of intermediate principal stress, and the failure is dominated by shear fracturing. There are two stages of fracture development: stable propagation stage and unstable failure stage. The AE events occurred in a zone parallel to pre-existing crack plane, and the AE zone increased gradually with the increase of intermediate principal stress, eventually forming obvious shear rupture planes. This shows that shear cracks initiated and propagated in the pre-existing crack direction, forming a shear rupture plane inside the specimens. The paths of fracturing inside the specimens were observed using the Computerized Tomography (CT) scanning and reconstruction.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.351-363
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• 2009

Two orthogonal joint sets develop well only in sandstone beds in the sandstone-mudstone sequences of Gumi and Dasa outcrops within Cretaceous Gyeongsang Basin. And various joint data are similar in the beds of the same thickness in both outcrops, meaning that the joint sets were homogeneously produced by extensional deformation in the same regional stress field. Most of joints in the sandstone beds are orthogonal to, and confined by bed boundaries, which are believed to be formed by hydrofracturing during consolidation after burial. Two orthogonal joint sets are considered to be almost coeval on the basis of mutual abutting relationship which makes up fracture grid-lock and a product of rapid switching of ${\sigma}_2$ and ${\sigma}_3$ axes with constant ${\sigma}_1$ direction oriented to vertical. The joint sets in the sandstone beds show planar surfaces, parallel orientations and regular spacing, with joint spacing linearly proportional to bed thickness. The spacing distributions of the joints seem to correspond to log-normal to almost normal distribution in most of the beds. But multilayer joints do not display regular spacing and dominant size. Either joint set in this study is characterized by a high level of joint density and a saturated spacing distribution as indicated by the mode/mean ratio values and the Cv(coefficient of variance) values. Joint aperture tends to increase with the vertical length of the joints controlled by bed thickness.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.3 s.40
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• pp.259-272
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of hydrochemical variation of groundwater on the gas tigtness in an unlined oil storage cavern. The groundwater chemistry is greatly influenced by the seawater mixing, the water curtain and the dissolution of grounting cements. The chemical composition of groundwater greatly varies ac-cording to both the location of monitoring wells and the sampling period. Most of groundwater shows alkaline pH and high electrical conductivity. The chemical types of groundwater show the dominant order as follows : Na-Cl type > Ca-Cl type > $Ca-HCO_3(CO_3)$ type. Thermodynamic equilibrium state between chemical composition of groundwater and major minerals indicates that carbonate minerals except clay minerals can be precipitated as a secondary mineral. It means that the secondary precipitates can not greatly exerts the clogging effect into fracture aperture in rock mass around oil storage cavern. The content of total organic carbon (TOC) shows a slightly increasing trend from initial stage to late stage. The $EpCO_2$ was computed so as to assess the gas contribution on the $CO_2$ in groundwater. The $EpCO_2$ of 0$\~$41.3 indicates that the contribution of oil gas on $CO_2$ pressure in groundwater system can be neglected.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.493-502
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• 2016

This study examines how rock condition affects the variation of the chargeability and electrical resistivity of the rock. In the theoretical study, the relationship correlating chargeability with the variables affecting it is derived. A parametric study utilizing the derived relationship reveals that the size of narrow pores ($r_1$) is the most influential factor on chargeability, and the salinity of pore water ($C_0$) is the second. In the laboratory experiments, small scale rock fracturing zone is modelled using sand stone. Chargeability and resistivity are measured by changing the size of the joint aperture, the location of fractured zone and the existence of clay gouge and/or clay layer which shows lower chargeability than the sand stone layer in the multi-layered ground. Test results show that chargeability is controlled not by the rock fracturing condition but by the size of narrow pore ($r_1$) where each line of current flow passes through. Also, the chargeability decreases with increase of the pore water salinity ($C_0$). In conclusion, the ground condition can be identified more efficiently by measuring the induced polarization along with the electrical resistivity; identifying the existence of sea water, the layered ground and/or the fractured rock becomes more reliable.