• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.198-209
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• 2002

To assess deep geological environment for the research and development of hish-level radioactive waste disposal, six boreholes of 3" in diameter were installed in two granitic areas. An areal extent of the rock block scale in the study sites was estimated by the lineament analysis from satellite images and shaded relief maps. The characterization of fracture system developed in rock block scale was carried out based on the acoustic televiewer logging in deep boreholes. In the Yuseong site, the granite rock mass was divided into the upper and lower zones at around -160m based on the probabilistic distribution characteristics of the geometric parameters such as orientation, fracture frequency, spacing and aperture size. Since the groundwater flow is dependent on the fracture system in a fractured rock mass, the correlation of the fracture frequency and cumulative aperture size to the hydraulic conductivity was also discussed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.306-319
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• 2020

Characterizations of Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ), which is hydro-mechanical degrading the host rock, are the important issues on the geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel. In the DECOVALEX 2019 project, Task G aimed to model the fractured rock numerically, describe the hydro-mechanical behavior of EDZ, and predict the change of the hydraulic factor during the lifetime of the geological repository. Task G prepared two-dimensional fractured rock model to compare the characteristics of each simulation tools in Work Package 1, validated the extended three-dimensional model using the TAS04 in-situ interference tests from Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Work Package 2, and applied the thermal and glacial loads to monitor the long-term hydro-mechanical response on the fractured rock in Work Package 3. Each modelling team adopted both Finite Element Method (FEM) and Discrete Element Method (DEM) to simulate the hydro-mechanical behavior of the fracture rock, and added the various approaches to describe the EDZ and fracture geometry which are appropriate to each simulation method. Therefore, this research can introduce a variety of numerical approaches and considerations to model the geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel in the crystalline fractured rock.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.567-574
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• 2019

In order to study the effect of stress and water pressure on the permeability of fractured rock mass under three-dimensional stress conditions, a single fracture triaxial stress-seepage coupling model was established; By using the stress-seepage coupling true triaxial test system, large-scale rock specimens were taken as the research object to carry out the coupling test of stress and seepage, the fitting formula of permeability coefficient was obtained. The influence of three-dimensional stress and water pressure on the permeability coefficient of fractured rock mass was discussed. The results show that the three-dimensional stress and water pressure have a significant effect on the fracture permeability coefficient, showing a negative exponential relationship. Under certain water pressure conditions, the permeability coefficient decreases with the increase of the three-dimensional stress, and the normal principal stress plays a dominant role in the permeability. Under certain stress conditions, the permeability coefficient increases when the water pressure increases. Further analysis shows that when the gob floor rock mass is changed from high stress to unloading state, the seepage characteristics of the cracked channels will be evidently strengthened.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.3 s.62
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• pp.218-231
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• 2006

Anisotropic/heterogeneous rock mass shows various deformation behavior types due to tunnelling because deformation behavior is largely controlled by the spacial characteristics of geological factors such as faults, joints and fractured zone in rock mass. In this paper 2-dimensional numerical analysis on the several influencing factors is performed considering fractured zone located near tunnel. This numerical analysis shows that deformation behavior of tunnel are very different according to the width and the location of fractured zone and supper method. However, 3-dimensional analysis is necessary to consider 3-dimensional geometrical characteristics sufficiently since discontinuity and fractured zone have 3-dimensional geometry. Also flexible design/construction guidelines for tunnelling are required to cope with uncertain ground condition and circumstance for technically safe and economic tunnel construction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.503-515
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• 2022

The permeability coefficient is an essential parameter for the study of seepage flow in fractured rock mass. This paper discusses the feasibility and application value of using readily available RQD (rock quality index) data to estimate mine water inflow and grouting quantity. Firstly, the influence of different fracture frequencies on permeability in a unit area was explored by combining numerical simulation and experiment, and the relationship between fracture frequencies and pressure and flow velocity at the monitoring point in fractured rock mass was obtained. Then, the stochastic function generation program was used to establish the flow analysis model in fractured rock mass to explore the relationship between flow velocity, pressure and analyze the universal law between fracture frequency and permeability. The concepts of fracture width and connectivity are introduced to modify the permeability calculation formula and grouting formula. Finally, based on the on-site grouting water control example, the rock mass quality index is used to estimate the mine water inflow and the grouting quantity. The results show that it is feasible to estimate the fracture frequency and then calculate the permeability coefficient by RQD. The relationship between fracture frequency and RQD is in accordance with exponential function, and the relationship between structure surface frequency and permeability is also in accordance with exponential function. The calculation results are in good agreement with the field monitoring results, which verifies the rationality of the calculation method. The relationship between the rock mass RQD index and the rock mass permeability established in this paper can be used to invert the mechanical parameters of the rock mass or to judge the permeability and safety of the rock mass by using the mechanical parameters of the rock mass, which is of great significance to the prediction of mine water inflow and the safety evaluation of water inrush disaster management.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.434-443
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• 2009

Slope stability analysis is an essential part of rock slope design. For highly fractured rock, the limit equilibrium method (LEM) based slope stability analysis with a circular failure surface is often carried out assuming the rock mass behaves more or less as a continuum. This paper examines first, the applicability of the finite-element method (FEM) based shear strength reduction (SSR) technique for highly fractured rock slope, and second the use of Mohr-Coulomb (MC) failure criterion in conjunction with generalized Hoek-Brown (HB) failure criterion. The numerical results on a number of cases are compared in terms of the factor of safety (FS). The results indicated that the FEM-based SSR technique yields almost the same FSs from LEM, and that the MC and HB failure criteria yield almost identical FSs when the strength parameters for MC failure criterion are obtained based on the modified HB failure criterion if and only if value of the Hoek-Brown constant $m_i$ is smaller than 10 and slope angle is smaller than 1:1, otherwise MC failure criteria over-estimate the factor of safety.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.1 s.60
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• pp.26-37
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• 2006

This study addresses the applicability of box fractal dimension, $D_B$, as an index of statistical homogeneity of fractured rock mass. The box-count method's capability in quantifying the combined effect of fracture density and size distribution is examined systematically. Total of 129 two-dimensional fracture configurations were generated based on different combinations of fracture size distribution and fracture density. $D_B$was calculated for the generated fracture network systems using the box-counting method. It was found that was standard deviation of trace length and fracture orientation have no effect on calculated $D_B$. The estimated $D_B$ was found to increase with increasing total density and/or mean trace length. To explore the field applicability of this study, the statistical homogeneity of fractured rock mass was investigated at the rock slope and the underground facility using the box-counting method as well as conventional contingency table analysis. The results obtained in this study clearly show that the methodologies given in this paper have the capability of determining the statistical homogeneity of fractured rock mass.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2003

Anisotropic shear strength of rock joints is studied based on the artificially fractured specimens using experimental and analytical methods. Series of direct shear tests are performed to obtain the strength, stiffness and friction angle of joints under various low normal stresses and shearing directions. The results of shear strength and stiffness show anisotropic value according to shearing direction under low normal stress specially less than 2.45 MPa. But, the effect of joint roughness on strength decreases with increasing normal stress. To estimate more effectively the peak shear strength under low normal stress, the modified Barton's equation is suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.129-134
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• 2006

Recently, spillways are need to control stable water level for supporting main dams because of floods by unusual change of weather such as Typhoon Rusa. This study has been focused on the amount of leakage through the rock mass distributed fractures and joints under the opened emergency spillway. It is very important to evaluate the amount of leakage as these affect stability of spillway by interaction between effective stress and pore pressure. The commercial program MAFIC has been used for analyzing groundwater flow in fractured rock mass. The results showed that the values of range, average and deviation of leakage were 2.85∼3.79×10-1, 3.32×10-1 and 1.70×10-2 m3/day/m2 respectively. Secondary, we have estimated the effect of grouting after the transmissivity(Tf) of joint 1 as main pathway of leakage known from above results was changed from 1.78×10-7 to 1.59×10-9 m2/s. The results showed that the values of range, average and deviation of leakage were 7.80×10-4∼1.53×10-3, 1.18×10-3 and 1.32×10-4 m3/day/m2 respectively. As the result, the amount of leakage after grouting has been decreased by a ratio of 1 to 277.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.189-190
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• 2005