• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.333-344
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• 2013

This paper discussed about the effect of permeability reduction of the jointed rock mass in the vicinity of a tunnel which is one of the reasons making large difference between the estimated ground-water inflow rate and the measured value. Current practice assumes that the jointed rock mass around a tunnel is a homogeneous, isotropic porous medium with constant permeability. However, in actual condition the permeability of a jointed rock mass varies with the change of effective stress condition around a tunnel, and in turn effective stress condition is affected by the ground water flow in the jointed rock mass around the tunnel. In short time after tunnel excavation, large increase of effective tangential stress around a tunnel due to stress concentration and pore-water pressure drop, and consequently large joint closure followed by significant permeability reduction of jointed rock mass in the vicinity of a tunnel takes place. A significant pore-water pressure drop takes place across this ring zone in the vicinity of a tunnel, and the actual pore-water pressure distribution around a tunnel shows large difference from the value estimated by an analytical solution assuming the jointed rock mass around the tunnel as a homogeneous, isotropic medium. This paper presents the analytical solution estimating pore-water pressure distribution and ground-water inflow rate into a tunnel based on the concept of hydro-mechanically coupled behavior of a jointed rock mass and the solution is verified by numerical analysis.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.573-586
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• 2023

Joints or weak planes can induce anisotropy in the strength and deformability of fractured rock masses. Comprehending this anisotropic behavior is crucial to engineering geology. This study used plaster as a friction material to mold specimens with a single joint. The strength and deformability of the specimens were measured in true triaxial compression tests. The measured results were compared with three-dimensional numerical analysis based on the distinct element method, conducted under identical conditions, to assess the reliability of the modeled values. The numerical results highlight that the principal stress conditions in the field, in conjunction with joint orientations, are crucial factors to the study of the strength and deformability of fractured rock masses. The strength of a transversely isotropic rock mass derived numerically considering changes in the dip angle of the joint notably increases as the intermediate principal stress increases. This increment varies depending on the dip of the joint. Moreover, the interplay between the dip direction of the joint and the two horizontal principal stress directions dictates the strength of the transversely isotropic rock mass. For a rock mass with two joint sets, the set with the steeper dip angle governs the overall strength. If a rock bridge effect occurs owing to the limited continuity of one of the joint sets, the orientation of the set with longer continuity dominates the strength of the entire rock mass. Although conventional three-dimensional failure criteria for fractured rock masses have limited applicability in the field, supplementing them with numerical analysis proves highly beneficial.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 1996

A two dimensional analysis program for groundwater flow in fractured network was developed to analyze the influence of discontinuity characteristics on groundwater flow. This program involves the generation of discontinuities and also connectivity analysis. The discontinuities were generated by the probabilistic density function(P.D.F.) reflecting the characteristics of discontinuities. And the fracture network model was completed through the connectivity analysis. This program also involves the analysis of groundwater flow through the discontinuity network. The result of numerical experiment shows that the equivalent hydraulic conductivity increased and became closer to isotropic as the density and trace length increased. And hydraulic head decreased along the fracture zone because of much water-flow. The grouting increased the groundwater head around cavern. An analysis of groundwater flow through discontinuity network was performed around underground oil storage cavern which is now under construction. The probabilistic density functions(P.D.F) were obtained from the investigation of the discontinuity trace map. When the anisotropic hydraulic conductivity is used, the flow rate into the cavern was below the acceptable value to maintain the hydraulic containment. But when the isotropic hydraulic conductivity is used, the flow rate was above the acceptable value.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.181-203
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• 1991

The effects of geologic structures such as rock joins and bedding planes on the thermal conductivity of a discontinuous rock mass are studied. The expressions for the equivalent thermal conductivities of jointed rock masses are derived and found to be anisotropic. The degree of anisotropy depends primarily on the thermal properties contrast between the joint phase and surrounding intact rock, the joint density expressed as volume fraction and the inclination angle of the joint. Within the context of 2-dimensional finite element heat transfer scheme, the isotherms around a circular hole are analyzed for both the isotropic and anisotropic rock masses in 3 different thermal boundary conditions. i.e. temperature, heat flux and convection boundary conditions. The temperature in the stratified anisotripic rock mass is greatly influenced by the thermal properties of the rock formation in contact with the heat source. Using the excavation-temperature coupled elastic plastic finite element method, analyzed is the thermo-mechanical stability of a circular opening subjected to 10$0^{\circ}C$ at a depth of 527m. It is found that the thermal stress concentration was enough to deteriorate the stability and form a plastic yield zone around the opening, in contrast to the safety factor greater than 2 resulted form the excavation-only analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.6 s.65
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• pp.495-505
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• 2006

Calculating the distribution of stresses and displacements around a circular tunnel excavated in infinite isotropic rock mass subjected to hydrostatic stress condition is one of the basic problems in rock engineering. While closed-form solutions for the distribution are known if rock masses are considered as elastic, perfectly plastic, or brittle-plastic media, a few numerically approximated solutions based on various simplifying assumptions have been reported for strain-softening rock mass. In this study, a simple numerical method is introduced for the analysis of strain-softening behavior of the circular tunnel in Mohr-Coulomb rock mass. The method can also applied to the analysis of the tunnel in brittle-plastic or perfectly plastic media. For the brittle-plastic case where closed-formsolution exists, the performance of the present method is verified by showing an excellent agreement between two solutions. In order to demonstrate the strain-softening behaviors predicted by the proposed method. a parameter study for a softening index is given and the construction of ground reaction curves is carried out. The importance of defining the characteristics of dilation in plastic analysis is discussed through analyzing the displacements near the surface of tunnel.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.220-228
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• 2002

Thermal flow through jointed rock mass was analyzed by numerical methods. The effect of a single set of joints on the heat conduction was analyzed by one-dimensional model and compared with the analytical solution. When a joint is completely dry, the joint behaves as a thermal break inducing jumps in temperature distribution even at steady state. Therefore when joints are completely dry, individual joint has to be taken into consideration to get a good result. When joints are partially or fully saturated, the thermal conductivity of the joints increases drastically and the jumps in temperature distribution become less severe. Therefore the effect of joint in heat conduction can be well absorbed by continuum anisotropic model whose thermal properties represent overall thermal properties of the intact part and the discontinuities. Since the effect of joints becomes less important as the degree of the saturation increases, the overall thermal response of the rock mass also becomes close to isotropic. Therefore it can be concluded that a great effort has to be made to obtain a precise in-situ thermal properties in order to get a good prediction of the thermal response of a jointed rock mass.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.17-26
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• 2017

Tunnel excavation in jointed rock mass induces a displacement along tunnel excavation line and its assessment is very important to ensure the stability of tunnel and a demanded space. Tunnel displacement is directly related to the deformation modulus of ground and therefore it is essential to know the value of the parameter. However, most rock masses where tunnels are constructed are generally jointed and it is difficult to find out the deformation modulus of jointed rock mass simply based on an homogeneous isotropic elastic medium because the deformation modulus is highly affected by joint condition as well as rock type. Accordingly, this study carried out extensive numerical parametric studies to examine the variation of deformation modulus in different joint conditions and rock types under the condition of tunnel excavation. The study results were compared with existing empirical relationships and also shown in the chart of deformation modulus variation in different jointed rock mass conditions.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 1994

The study on the flow characteristics and analysis of groundwater in discontinuous rock mass is very important, since the water inflow into the underground opening during excavation induces serious stability and environmental problems. To investigate the flow through single rock joint, the effect of various aperture distribution on the groundwater flow has been analyzed. Observed through the analysis is the "channel flow", the phenomenon that the flow is dominant along the path of large aperture for given joint. The equivalent hydraulic conductivity is estimated and verified through the application of the joint network analysis for 100 joint maps generated statistically. Both the analytic aproach based on isotropic continuum premise and the joint network analysis are tested and compared analyzing the gorundwater inflow for underground openings of different sizes and varying joint density. The joint network analysis is considered better to reflect the geometric properties of joint distribution in analyzing the groundwater flow.ater flow.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.257-268
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• 2005

In situ rock mass is generally heterogeneous and discontinuous, with varying degrees of strength along the planes of weakness. The planes of weakness such as joints, faults, cracks and bedding planes, control the strength and deformation characteristics of the rock mass. Subsequently, the stability of underground opening depends upon the spatial distribution of discontinuities and their mechanical properties in relation with geometrical shape of openins as well as the mechanical properties of intact rock materials. Understanding the behaviour of a discontinuous rock mass remains a key issue for improving excavation design in hiかy stressed environments. Although recent advances in rock mechanics have provided guidelines for the design of underground opening in isotropic rock mass, prediction and control of deformation in discontinuous rock masses are still unclear. In this study, parametric study was performed to investigate the plastic zone size, stress distribution and deformation behavior around underground opening in a discontinuous rock mass using a continuum joint model. The solutions were obtained by an elasto-plastic finite difference analysis, employing the Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria. Non-associated flow rule and perfectly plastic material behavior are also assumed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.363-374
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• 2016

All five independent elastic constants of a transversely isotropic rock sometimes need to be determined from a single specimen. Saint-Venant approximation has been widely used for a long time in the analysis of single specimen test. This paper has proven how this empirical equation can be mathematically transformed into a form of the apparent Young's modulus based on theory of elasticity. The transformed equation is a monotonous function on anisotropic angle and can be useful in the analysis of the in-situ stress measurement in an anisotropic rock mass. The estimations of data in literatures have shown that the measured values of $G^2$ are uniform on anisotropic angles and smaller than that of Saint-Venant's case. This decrement may be caused by sliding of the interface of strata and the decrement rate is inferred to relate well with the combination of bonding condition of strata and strength of rock material. Accumulation of these kinds of studies in the future enables to define the decrement and to determine elastic constants of a transversely isotropic rock from a single specimen from modifying Saint-Venant approximation.