• Title/Summary/Keyword: geological hazards

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Assessment of radionuclides from coal-fired brick kilns on the outskirts of Dhaka city and the consequent hazards on human health and the environment

  • M.M. Mahfuz Siraz;M.D.A. Rakib;M.S. Alam;Jubair Al Mahmud;Md Bazlar Rashid;Mayeen Uddin Khandaker;Md. Shafiqul Islam;S. Yeasmin
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.55 no.8
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    • pp.2802-2811
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    • 2023
  • In a first-of-its-kind study, terrestrial radionuclide concentrations were measured in 35 topsoil samples from the outskirts of Dhaka using HPGe gamma-ray spectrometry to assess the radiological consequences of such a vast number of brick kilns on the plant workers, general as well as dwelling environment. The range of activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K is found at 19 ± 3.04 to 38 ± 4.94, 39 ± 5.85 to 57 ± 7.41, and (430 ± 51.60 to 570 ± 68.40) Bq/kg, respectively. 232Th and 40K concentrations were higher than the global averages. Bottom ash deposition in lowlands, fly ash buildup in soils, and the fallout of micro-particles are all probable causes of the elevated radioactivity levels. 137Cs was found in the sample, which indicates the migration of 137Cs from nuclear accidents or nuclear fallout, or the contamination of feed coal. Although the effective dose received by the general public was below the recommended dose limit but, most estimates of hazard parameters surpass their respective population weighted global averages, indicating that brick kiln workers and nearby residents are not safe due to prolonged exposures to terrestrial radiation. In addition, the soil around sampling sites is found to be unsuitable for agricultural purposes.

Infiltration Characteristics of Tracer Wetting Front through Effective Pores of Unsaturated Soil (불포화토 유효공극 내 추적자 침윤선 거동 특성 평가)

  • Kim, Man-Il;Nishigaki, Makoto
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.17 no.1 s.50
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    • pp.41-47
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    • 2007
  • Geotechnical Phenomena such as landslide, groundwater recharge and groundwater fluctuation due to rainfall can be explain to use a dielectric response and infiltration variation by the movement of a wetting front in the subsurface. The infiltration of a wetting front is infiltrating to the connected pores which are distributed in unsaturated soil. In this study we carried out to laboratory experiment of a vertical infiltration column test using ethanol mix-ing tracer which has same the specific gravity of water. All physical values are detected to use a variation of dielectric constant and calculated to use a dielectric mixing model and tracer test model. This dielectric method measured by each dielectric constant of geological soil porous materials should be of for the geotechnical information and useful a field monitoring technique for detecting the variations of the volumetric water content and the wetting front, which are insignificant the key parameter to understanding the landslide by rainfall.

Geological Structural Lines and Hamdeok-Pyoseon Graben in Jeju Island (제주도의 지질구조선과 함덕-표선 지구대)

  • Booh Seong-An;Jeong Gyo-Cheol;Kim Hye-Bin;Kim Kyeong-Su;Woo Myoung-Ha;Lee Byoung-Ho
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.15 no.4 s.42
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    • pp.475-486
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    • 2005
  • According to the inference results of formation process of the tectonic lineament, totally four events of subsidence including two events after upheaval of granite body and two events after sedimentation of unconsolidated sedimentary layer formed the macroscopic tensional lineament. The subsidence was occurred by tensional stress oriented ENE-WSW direction and compressional stress oriented NNW-SSE direction. The deeper distribution of tuff and unconsolidated sedimentary layer as much as 70-140m and that of granite as much as 50-500m at Hamdeok and Shinheung than those of the eastern and the western area around Hamdeok and Shinheong is due to the Hamdeok-Pyoseon Graben by three events of differential subsidence from Hamdeok to Pyoseon including Shinheung.

Case Study of Assessment of Slope Stability and Geophysical Survey in Weathered Gneiss (편마암 풍화사면에서의 지구물리탐사 및 안정성 해석 사례연구)

  • Kim, Man-Il;Kim, Jong-Tae;Kim, Jae-Hong;Ro, Byung-Don;Jeong, Gyo-Cheol
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.287-295
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    • 2008
  • Rock slope has a variety of irregular discontinuities and represents a discontinuous mass. Rock joint plays an important role of control hydraulic and mechanic movements in the rock mass. These characteristics between hydraulic and mechanic movements at the rock joints could be represent difference. Therefore they are quiet important factor for slope design. In this study the weathered rock slopes were carried out to analysis of slope stability and geophysical survey. The electrical resistivity survey with dipole-dipole array conducted five profiling sites, and SWEDGE and SLIDE for slope stability analysis were applied on 20 rock slopes far assessment of slope stability and understand to geological situations due to the weathering.

Analysis of Soil Mechanical Characteristics according to the Geological Condition in JangHeung Area (지질조건에 따른 장흥지역 토질의 공학적 특성 분석)

  • Song, Young-Suk;Yun, Jung-Mann
    • Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 2010
  • The soil mechanical characteristics according to geologic conditions were investigated in the study area. The geology of study area was consisted of Ingok Tuff, Yuchi Conglomerate and Dado Tuff. Yuchi Tuff covered about 80% of the study area. The disturbed and undisturbed soils were sampled from the conglomerate area, Tuff area and Shale area, and then a series of the laboratory soil tests was performed. The soils sampled from the conglomerate area have a large dry unit weight and a low permeability relatively, while the soils sampled from tuff and shale areas have a small dry unit weight and a high permeability. It is proven that the soil permeability is highly affected by the effective grain size and the silt and clay content. That is, the soil permeability is increased with increasing the effective grain size, and the soil permeability is decreased with increasing the silt and clay content.

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Basic Concepts and Geological Applications of LiDAR (LiDAR 기법의 기본원리와 지질학적 적용)

  • Kim, Hyun-Tae;Kim, Young-Seog;We, Kwang-Jae
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.123-135
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    • 2014
  • Earthquakes can cause serious loss of life and significant property damage. Thus, the study of active faults is important in evaluating future fault activity and hazards caused by future earthquake events. Structural mapping and the tracing of active faults are the primary steps in studies of active faults. Until now, active faults in South Korea have been mapped using aerial photography, satellite images, and low-quality DEMs. Lineament analysis as a means of identifying active faults is relatively difficult in Korea due to geological characteristics (weak tectonic activity) and dense vegetation cover. In this paper, we introduce the basic concept of the LiDAR technique (a new prospective remote sensing method) and a data analysis method that can overcome these problems. This paper will contribute to a better understanding of the airborne LiDAR technique and its application to South Korea. Some preliminary results from Korean and USA LiDAR data show the usefulness of this technique for tracing lineaments, active faults, and terraces in South Korea.

Coupled 3D thermal-hydraulic code development for performance assessment of spent nuclear fuel disposal system

  • Samuel Park;Nakkyu Chae;Pilhyeon Ju;Seungjin Seo;Richard I. Foster;Sungyeol Choi
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.56 no.9
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    • pp.3950-3960
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    • 2024
  • As a solution to the problem of spent nuclear fuels (SNFs), the disposal of SNF has gained attention from nations using nuclear energy because of hazards posed to the ecosystem. Among many proposed solutions, the most promising method is to dispose of SNF in a deep geological repository (DGR) which utilizes the multi-barrier concept developed by Finland and Sweden. Here, a new fully-coupled Thermal-Hydraulic (TH) code HADES (High-level rAdionuclide Disposal Evaluation Simulator) is developed using the MOOSE framework. This new code suggests basic numerical tools, such as a non-linear solver and finite element discretization, to assess the safety performance of disposal systems. The new TH code considered various TH behavior using Richards' flow approach, assuming gas pressure is constant. The HADES showed promising results when it was compared to various TH codes validated from DECOVAELX-THMC projects. When the single-canister model was utilized to estimate the TH behavior of the Korean Reference disposal System, although it showed significant saturation reduction due to the evaporation of water, the temperature was maintained under the thermal criteria limit, which is 100 ℃. In addition, the new code estimated temperature and degree of saturation of the multi-canisters model, considering two or three canisters, it showed a slightly lower temperature, 5 ℃, than the single-canister model. From these results, the following are concluded: (1) the new TH code contribute to an additional integrity by estimating TH behavior of KRS; (2) however, due to limitations in single-canister simulation, it is recommended to use multi-canisters simulation to estimate TH behavior accurately. Therefore, this model is anticipated not only to help licensing applications and estimation of various multi-physics phenomena and multi-canister at the disposal site.

Soil Characteristics according to the Geological Condition of Soil Slopes in Landslide Area (산사태지역 토층사면의 지질조건별 토질특성)

  • Kim, Kyeong-Su
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.16 no.4 s.50
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    • pp.359-371
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    • 2006
  • In this study, the soil characteristics are analyzed using the result of various soil tests as an object of the soil layer of natural slopes in landslides areas composed with gneiss, granite, and the tertiary sedimentary rock. To investigate the soil characteristics according to landslide and non landslide areas, soils are sampled from Jangheung, Sangju and Pohang. The landslides at three areas are occurred due to heavy rainfall in same time. The geology of Jangheung area, Sangju area and Pohang area is gneiss, granite, and the tertiary sedimentary rock, respectively. On the basis of the landslide data and the result of soil test, the soil characteristics at the landslide area and the differentiation between landslide area and non landslide area are analyzed. However soil characteristics have a little differentiation to geological condition, the uniformity coefficient and the coefficient of gradation of soils at the landslide area is larger than those of soils at the non landslide area. Also, the proportion of fine particle of soils at the landslide area is higher. The plastic limit of soils sampled from the granite and the sedimentary rock regions is larger than that sampled from the gneiss region. However the liquid limit is irrelevant to the geological condition. Also, the consistency of soils at the landslide area is smaller. The natural moisture content of soils in the sedimentary rock regions is larger than that of the granite and gneiss. It is mainly influenced by mineral composition, soil layer structure, weathering condition, and so on. The soils sampled from landslide area have higher porosity and lower density than those from non landslide area. It means that the soils of landslide area have poor particle size distribution and loose density. Therefore, the terrain slope with poor distribution and loose density is vulnerable to occur in landslides. Also, landslides are occurred in the terrain slope with high permeability. The permeability is mainly influenced by the soil characteristics such as particle size distribution, porosity, particle structure, and the geological origins such as weathering, sedimentary environment. Meanwhile, the shear strength of soils is little difference according to the geological condition. But, the internal friction angle of soils sampled from the landslide area is lower than that of soils from the non landslide area. Therefore, the terrain slope with low internal friction angle is more vulnerable to the landslide.

Trends in Predicting Groutability Based on Correlation Analysis between Hydrogeological and Rock Engineering Indices: A Review (수리지질 및 암반공학 지수 간 상관분석을 통한 절리암반 내 그라우트 주입성 예측 연구 동향: 리뷰논문)

  • Kwangmin Beck;Seonggan Jang;Seongwoo Jeong;Seungwoo Jason Chang;Minjune Yang
    • The Journal of Engineering Geology
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.307-322
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    • 2023
  • Rock-mass grouting plays a crucial role in the construction of dams and deep caverns, effectively preventing seepage in the foundations, enhancing stability, and mitigating hazards. Most rock grouting is affected by hydrogeological and rock engineering indices such as rock quality designation (RQD), rock mass quality (Q-value), geological strength index (GSI), joint spacing (Js), joint aperture (Ap), lugeon value (Lu), secondary permeability index (SPI), and coefficient of permeability (K). Therefore, accurate geological analysis of basic rock properties and guidelines for grouting construction are essential for ensuring safe and effective grouting design and construction. Such analysis has been applied in dam construction sites, with a particular focus on the geological characteristics of bedrock and the development of prediction methods for grout take. In South Korea, many studies have focused on grout injection materials and construction management techniques. However, there is a notable lack of research on the analysis of hydrogeological and rock engineering information for rock masses, which are essential for the development of appropriate rock grouting plans. This paper reviews the current state of research into the correlation between the grout take with important hydrogeological and rock engineering indices. Based on these findings, future directions for the development of rock grouting research in South Korea are discussed.

Development of analysis technique of landslide hazards in natural slopes (자연사면 산사태재해 해석기법 개발)

  • Kim, Kyeong-Su;Song, Young-Suk;Cho, Yong-Chan;Chae, Byung-Gon
    • Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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    • 2009.03a
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    • pp.1092-1099
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    • 2009
  • Landslide researches are divided to a method of interrelationship for various factors, method of predicting landslide possibility, and method of estimating landslide risk which are occurring landslides in the natural slope. Most of landslides occurred in natural slope are caused by a heavy rainfall in summer season. Weathered soil layer located in upper side of rock mass was occurred. As well as, they are announced to have an influence to geometry, geology, soil characteristics, and precipitation in the natural slope. In order to investigate and interpret the variety of landslides from field investigation to risk analysis, landslide analysis process due to geotechnical and geological opinions are systematically demanded. In this research, the study area is located in Macheon area, Gyeongsangnam-do and performed the landslide investigation. From the results of landslide investigation and analysis, optimized standard model based on natural landslide is proposed to high technical method of landslide investigation and interpretation.

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