• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.553-581
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• 2022

Shortly after tunnel boring machine (TBM) was introduced in the tunneling industry, the use of TBM has surprisingly increased worldwide due to its performance together with the benefit of being safely and environmentally friendly. One of the main cost items in the TBM tunneling in rock and soil is changing damaged or worn cutters. It is because that the cutter change is a time-consuming and costly activity that can significantly reduce the TBM utilization and advance rate and has a major effect on the total time and cost of TBM tunneling projects. Therefore, the importance of accurately evaluating the cutter life can never be overemphasized. However, the prediction of cutter wear in soil, rock including mixed face is very complex and not yet fully clarified, subsequently keeping engineers busy around the world. Various prediction models for cutter wear have been developed and introduced, but these models almost usually produce highly variable results due to inherent uncertainties in the models. In this study, a case study of design and construction of disc cutter change is introduced and analyzed, rather than proposing a prediction model of cutter wear. As the disc cutter is strongly affected by the geological condition, TBM machine characteristic and operation, authors believe it is very hard to suggest a generalized prediction model given the uncertainties and limitations therefore it would be more practical to analyze a real case and provide a detailed discussion of the difference between prediction and result for the cutter change. By doing so, up-to-date idea about planning and execution of cutter change in practice can be promoted.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.75-94
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• 2019

As the present single-layer repository concept requires too large an area for the site of the repository, a multi-layer repository concept has been suggested to improve the disposal density. The effects of the excavation damaged zone around the multi-layer repository constructed in the deep host rock on the temperature distribution in the repository were analyzed. For the thermal analysis of the multi-layer repository, the hydrothermal model was used to consider the resaturation process occurring in the buffer, backfill and rock. The existence of an excavation damaged zone has a significant effect on the temperature distribution in the repository, and the maximum peak temperatures of double-layer and triple-layer repositories can rise to $7^{\circ}C$ and $12^{\circ}C$, respectively depending on the size of the excavation damaged zone and the degree of decrease of the thermal conductivity. The dominant factor affecting the peak temperature in the multi-layer repository is the decrease of thermal conductivity in the excavation damaged zone, and the excavation damaged zone formed around the deposition hole has more significant effects on the peak temperature than does the excavation damaged zone formed around the disposal tunnel.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.703-713
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• 2020

In many geological fields, including hydrogeology, it is of great importance to determine the heterogeneity of the subsurface media. This study briefly introduces the concept and theory of the method that can estimate the hydraulic properties of the media constituting the aquifer, which was recently introduced by Park (2020). After the introduction, the method was applied to the synthetic aquifer to demonstrate the practicality, from which various implications were drawn. The introduced technique uses a global optimization technique called the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES). Conceptually, it is a methodology to characterize the aquifer heterogeneity by assimilating the groundwater level time-series data due to the imposed hydraulic stress. As a result of applying the developed technique to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of a hypothetical aquifer, it was confirmed that a total of 40000 unknown values were estimated in an affordable computational time. In addition, the results of the estimates showed a close numerical and structural similarity to the reference hydraulic conductivity field, confirming that the quality of the estimation by the proposed method is high. In this study, the developed method was applied to a limited case, but it is expected that it can be applied to a wider variety of cases through additional development of the method. The development technique has the potential to be applied not only to the field of hydrogeology, but also to various fields of geology and geophysics. Further development of the method is currently underway.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.16-25
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• 2020

Multi-setting smart-investigation of the ground and large uncharged hole boring (MSP) method to reduce the blast-induced vibration in a tunnel excavation is carried out over 50m of long-distance boring in a horizontal direction and thus has been accompanied by deviations in boring alignment because of the heavy and one-directional rotation of the rod. Therefore, the deviation has been adjusted through the boring machine's variable setting rely on the previous construction records and expert's experience. However, the geological characteristics, machine conditions, and inexperienced workers have caused significant deviation from the target alignment. The excessive deviation from the boring target may cause a delay in the construction schedule and economic losses. A deep learning-based prediction model has been developed to discover an ideal initial setting of the MSP machine. Dropout, early stopping, pre-training techniques have been employed to prevent overfitting in the training phase and, significantly improved the prediction results. These results showed the high possibility of developing the model to suggest the boring machine's optimum initial setting. We expect that optimized setting guidelines can be further developed through the continuous addition of the data and the additional consideration of the other factors.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.217-240
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• 2021

Upon the human exploration era of the Moon, this paper introduces lunar topography and geologic fundamentals to space scientists. The origin of scientific terminology for the lunar topography was briefly summarized, and the extension of the current Korean terminology is suggested. Specifically, we suggest the most representative lunar topography that are useful to laymen as 1 ocean (Oceanus Procellarum), 10 maria (Mare Imbrium, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranuillitatis, Mare Nectaris, Mare Fecundatis, Mare Crisium, Mare Vaporium, Mare Cognitum, Mare Humorum, Mare Nubium), 6 great craters (Tyco, Copernicus, Kepler, Aristachus, Stebinus, Langrenus). We also suggest Korean terms for highland, maria, mountains, crater, rille, rima, graben, dome, lava tube, wrinkle ridge, trench, rupes, and regolith. In addition, we introduce the standard model for the lunar interior and typical rocks. According to the standard model on the basis of historical impact events, the lunar geological eras are classified as Pre-Nectarian, Nectarian, Imbrian, Erathostenesian, and Copernican in chronologic order. Finally, we summarize the latest discovery records on the water on the Moon, and introduce the concept of water extraction from the lunar soil, which is to be developed by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.138-149
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• 2023

In geoscience and engineering the geological characteristics of sediment strata is crucial and possible if reliable borehole logging and seismic data are available. To investigate the characteristics of the shallow strata in the Korea Strait, laboratory sonic logs were obtained from deep borehole data and seismic section. In this study, we integrated and analyzed the sonic log data obtained from the drilling core (down to a depth of 200 m below the seabed) and multichannel seismic section. The correlation value was increased from 15% to 45% through time-depth conversion. An initial model of P-wave impedance was set, and the results were compared by performing model-based, band-limited, and sparse-spike inversions. The derived P-impedance distributions exhibited differences between sediment-dominant and unconsolidated layers. The P-impedance inversion process can be used as a framework for an integrated analysis of additional core logs and seismic data in the future. Furthermore, the derived P-impedance can be used to detect shallow gas-saturated regions or faults in the shallow sediment. As domestic deep drilling is being performed continuously for identifying the characteristics of carbon dioxide storage candidates and evaluating resources, the applicability of the integrated inversion will increase in the future.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.515-532
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• 2023

Bentonite, predominantly consists of expandable clay minerals, is considered to be the suitable buffering material in high-level radioactive waste disposal repository due to its large swelling property and low permeability. Additionally, the bentonite has large cation exchange capacity and specific surface area, and thus, it effectively retards the transport of leaked radionuclides to surrounding environments. This study aims to review the thermodynamic sorption models for four radionuclides (U, Am, Se, and Eu) and eight bentonites. Then, the thermodynamic sorption models and optimized sorption parameters were precisely analyzed by considering the experimental conditions in previous study. Here, the optimized sorption parameters showed that thermodynamic sorption models were related to experimental conditions such as types and concentrations of radionuclides, ionic strength, major competing cation, temperature, solid-to-liquid ratio, carbonate species, and mineralogical properties of bentonite. These results implied that the thermodynamic sorption models suggested by the optimization at specific experimental conditions had large uncertainty for application to various environmental conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.121-133
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• 2023

The demand for cement and limestone crushed materials has increased many folds due to the tremendous increase in construction activities in Pakistan during the past few decades. The number of cement production industries has increased correspondingly, and so the rock-blasting operations at the limestone quarry sites. However, the safety procedures warranted at these sites for the blast-induced ground vibrations (BIGV) have not been adequately developed and/or implemented. Proper prediction and monitoring of BIGV are necessary to ensure the safety of structures in the vicinity of these quarry sites. In this paper, an attempt has been made to predict BIGV using artificial neural network (ANN) at three selected limestone quarries of Pakistan. The ANN has been developed in Python using Keras with sequential model and dense layers. The hyper parameters and neurons in each of the activation layers has been optimized using randomized and grid search method. The input parameters for the model include distance, a maximum charge per delay (MCPD), depth of hole, burden, spacing, and number of blast holes, whereas, peak particle velocity (PPV) is taken as the only output parameter. A total of 110 blast vibrations datasets were recorded from three different limestone quarries. The dataset has been divided into 85% for neural network training, and 15% for testing of the network. A five-layer ANN is trained with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function, Adam optimization algorithm with a learning rate of 0.001, and batch size of 32 with the topology of 6-32-32-256-1. The blast datasets were utilized to compare the performance of ANN, multivariate regression analysis (MVRA), and empirical predictors. The performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R²), mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean squared error (RMSE)for predicted and measured PPV. To determine the relative influence of each parameter on the PPV, sensitivity analyses were performed for all input parameters. The analyses reveal that ANN performs superior than MVRA and other empirical predictors, andthat83% PPV is affected by distance and MCPD while hole depth, number of blast holes, burden and spacing contribute for the remaining 17%. This research provides valuable insights into improving safety measures and ensuring the structural integrity of buildings near limestone quarry sites.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2 s.40
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• pp.116-126
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• 2005

The Precambrian quartzite and calc-schist layers experienced multi-1310ing events are distributed along the two kinds of U-shaped 1310 (Fold I and II) with $N10^{\circ}E-directed$ fo1d axis in Wollong-myeon, Gwangtan-myeon, Jori-myeon of Paju city, the northeastern part of Gyeonggido. Occurrence of 10 layers of quartzite and 4 layers of calc-schist is not clear whether quartzite and schist layers were deposited sequentially each other or one to two layers of quartzite and schist were distributed repeatedly by isoclinal folding and thrusting, because of lack of sedimentary structures. In this paper, we tried to clarify the correlative relationship among the quartzite beds which are distributed along the U-shaped folds using geochemical tools such as rare earth element (REE) patterns and Nd isotope ratio. Quartzites have characteristics of LREE-flattened, HREE- slightly depleted patterns. They also show Ce negative anomaly whereas there are no Eu anomalies. As a result, quartzite beds occurred along the bilateral sides of fold axis show very similar REE patterns from outer side to inner side of 1314. The Nd model age of quartzite layers shows a trend that the inner part of fold is younger than the outer part of it. Such geochemical characteristics suggest that bilateral quartzite beds occurred along the fold axis were derived from the cogenetic source materials. The REE patterns and trace element geochemistry of mica schist intercalated within quartzite indicate that the quartzite and mica schist may be derived from different source materials. Our results suggest that REE and Nd isotope geochemistries may be very useful in clarifying the relationship of sedimentary deposits which do not show stratigraphical and structural connections in the field.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2008

The analysis of wide-angle seismic reflection and refraction data plays an important role in lithospheric-scale crustal structure study. However, it is extremely difficult to develop an appropriate velocity structure model directly from the observed data, and we have to improve the structure model step by step, because the crustal structure analysis is an intrinsically non-linear problem. There are several subjective processes in wide-angle crustal structure modelling, such as phase identification and trial-and-error forward modelling. Because these subjective processes in wide-angle data analysis reduce the uniqueness and credibility of the resultant models, it is important to reduce subjectivity in the analysis procedure. From this point of view, we describe two software tools, PASTEUP and MODELING, to be used for developing crustal structure models. PASTEUP is an interactive application that facilitates the plotting of record sections, analysis of wide-angle seismic data, and picking of phases. PASTEUP is equipped with various filters and analysis functions to enhance signal-to-noise ratio and to help phase identification. MODELING is an interactive application for editing velocity models, and ray-tracing. Synthetic traveltimes computed by the MODELING application can be directly compared with the observed waveforms in the PASTEUP application. This reduces subjectivity in crustal structure modelling because traveltime picking, which is one of the most subjective process in the crustal structure analysis, is not required. MODELING can convert an editable layered structure model into two-way traveltimes which can be compared with time-sections of Multi Channel Seismic (MCS) reflection data. Direct comparison between the structure model of wide-angle data with the reflection data will give the model more credibility. In addition, both PASTEUP and MODELING are efficient tools for handling a large dataset. These software tools help us develop more plausible lithospheric-scale structure models using wide-angle seismic data.