• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.345-352
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• 2022

The existing NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method) has induced civil compliants due to blasting vibration and noise. Machanized excavation methods such as TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) are being adopted in the planning and construction of tunneling projects. Shield TBM method is composed of repetition processes of TBM excavation and segment installation, the machine has to be stopped during the later process. Consecutive excavation technology using helical segment is under developing to minimize the stoppage time. The modification of thrust jacks and module are planned to ensure the advance force acting on the inclined surface of helical segment. Also, the integrated system design of hydraulic circuit will be remodeled. This means that the system deactivate the jacks on the installing segment while the others automatically act the thrusting forces on the existing segments. This report briefly introduces the mechanical research part of the current consecutive excavation technological development project of TBM.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.45-56
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• 2010

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation on the behavior of deep excavation wall system supported by steel pipe struts. A series of three-dimensional finite element analyses were carried out on a braced excavation case which adopted steel pipe struts. The results indicated that the mechanical behavior of the steel pipe supported braced excavation is comparable to that of a conventional H-pile supported excavation, although the steel pipe supported system allows a larger longitudinal spacing than the conventional H-pile strut system. Also shown is that the sectional stresses of the steel pipe support system are within the allowable values. This implies that the steel pipe support system can be effectively used as an alternative to conventional H-pile support system.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.489-506
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• 2024

Excavation of tunnels below the groundwater table changes the hydraulic boundary conditions, causing flow towards the excavation face. Inflow into a tunnel is generally influenced by pre-excavation grouting, shotcrete lining, drainage system implementation, and the hydraulic deterioration of the drainage system. From the perspective of continuum theory, the groundwater inflow behavior due to excavation is very similar to the tunnel excavation behavior known as the convergence-confinement method. The groundwater inflow behavior due to tunnel excavation can be explained by the hydraulic convergence, while the behavior of shotcrete lining in limiting inflow can be inferred as hydraulic confinement. This study investigates the hydraulic convergence and confinement behavior using theoretical and numerical methods due to tunnelling. It is confirmed that the hydraulic convergence-confinement is exactly the same as the mechanical convergence-confinement concept. It is identified that the behavior is governed by the tunnel geometry, grout thickness and permeability, as well as the thickness and permeability of the support materials, such as shotcrete.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.19-26
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• 2018

The measures for environmental regulations have become more strict over the recent years. Due to vibration and noise arising from blasting, every site that chooses to handle explosives has to be under certain restrictions in its use. Especially a site where a safety thing is situated within close proximity, the chosen method is through mechanical excavation. However, various applications of electronic detonators has made blasting possible where mechanical excavation used to be the only alternative. Hanwha Corporation has developed an electronic detonator, $HiTRONIC^{TM}$, which is an advanced fourth-generation detonator with a high accuracy of delay time(0.01%). At this moment, $HiTRONIC^{TM}$ is widely used in highway and railway construction sites, large limestone quarries, and many other blasting sites where blasting had not been an available option before. In this paper, I would like to introduce a case study on construction of utilizing $HiTRONIC^{TM}$ at a large-scale tunnel site.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.187-200
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• 2014

After excavation or blasting, rock properties within an excavation damaged zone can be perpetually weakened on account of stress redistribution or blasting impact. In the present study, the excavation damaged zone is applied to a rock slope. The objective of this research is to compare the mechanical stability of the rock slope depending on the presence of the damaged zone using 2-dimensional modeling and analyze factors affecting factor-of-safety. From the modeling, it was founded that the mechanical stability of the rock slope is significantly dependent on the presence of the damaged zone. In particular, factor-of-safety with a consideration of the damaged zone decreased by approximately 49.4% in comparison with no damaged zone. Factor analysis by fractional factorial design was carried out on factor-of-safety. It showed that the key parameters affecting factor-of-safety are angle of the slope, cohesion, internal friction angle and height.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.8-14
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• 2017

One of the main causes of gas pipeline accidents is mechanical impact(third party damage). The majority of high pressure gas pipelines buried in major domestic industrial complexes are old pipes which have being operated over 20 years. Therefore, if an accident occurs, there will be a full scale accident because there is no additional inspection and reinforcement time. In this study, the defects on the piping during the mechanical impact were studied through the third party damage(excavation) experiments. Experiments were carried out using the 21 ton excavator which is operated in the actual excavation work and the type of pipe to be struck are ASTM A106 Grade.B and ASTM A53 Grade.B. As a result, when the bucket used during excavator operation is a sawtooth bucket, the defect is more bigger. And the smaller the diameter of the pipe, the smaller the depth and length of the defect. Also, it was confirmed that the impact height had no effect on the defects on the buried pipe, during the excavation work.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.11-19
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• 2008

The development of an excavation damaged zone, EDZ, due to the blasting impact and stress redistribution after excavation, can influence on the long tenn stability, economy, and safety of the underground excavation. In this study, the size and characteristics of an EDZ around an underground research tunnel, which was excavated by controlled blasting, in KAERI were investigated. The results were implemented into the modelling for evaluating the influence of an EDZ on hydro-mechanical behavior of the tunnel. From in situ tests at KURT, it was possible to determine that the size of EDZ was about l.5rn. Goodman jack tests and laboratory tests showed that the rock properties in the EDZ were changed about 50% compared to the rock properties before blasting. The size and property change in the EDZ were implemented to a hydro-mechanical coupling analysis. In the modeling, rock strengths and elastic modulus were assumed to be decreased 50% and. the hydraulic conductivity was increased 1 order. From the analysis, it was possible to see that the displacement was increased while the stress was decreased because of an EDZ. When an EDZ was considered in the model, the tunnel inflow was increased about 20% compared to the case without an EDZ.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.29-41
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• 2023

The brittleness of rocks plays an important role in determining the fragmentation and failure behavior of rock. However, there is still no standard method to evaluate the brittleness of rock, and previous studies have suggested the several definitions for estimation of brittleness of rock. Even in the process of mechanical rock excavation and drilling, the brittleness of rock is considered as an important property for evaluating the excavation efficiency of mechanical excavators or boreability of rock. The previous studies have been carried out to investigate the correlation between different brittleness of rock and cutting efficiency and boreability of rock. This study introduced a method for calculating the brittleness of rock from punch penetration test, and analyzed the correlation between the brittleness of rock calculated by the uniaxial compressive and Brazilian tensile strengths and that from punch penetration test. From the results of correlation analysis, the relationship between various brittleness was confirmed, and it was found that PSI and BI₃ showed a good correlation with the strength-based brittleness index. In addition, the results indicated that B₃ and B₄ are suitable to represent the brittleness of rock in the field of mechanical rock excavation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.150-154
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• 2018

In lotic wetlands, runner reed (Phragmites japonicus) plays a role as a pioneer, which helps other plant species to settle by making dense roots trapping floating-sediments. In lentic wetlands, on the other hand, P. japonicus could play a role as an invader threatening biodiversity by forming tall and dense stands. To conserve an abandoned paddy terrace in mountainous areas, a habitat of an endangered dragonfly species (Nannophya pygmaea), from the monotypic-occupation by P. japonicus, we applied three kinds of treatment: (1) hand-clipping in 2009, (2) mechanical excavating in 2012, and (3) planting of alternative vegetational unit in 2012. We have monitored vegetation changes in the wetland in 2008~2012 and 2017. Vegetation cover of P. japonicus sharply decreased from 43% in 2011 to 16% in 2012 by the mechanical excavation. After 5 years from applying the treatment, Schoenoplectiella mucronata that was utilized in the planting became the predominant species instead of P. japonicus and the number of wetland plant species increased from 16 to 25 with the shift in species composition. This study showed the utility of three control methods of P. japonicas in a lentic wetland.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.4
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• pp.469-477
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• 2019

The understanding of tool-rock interaction mechanism is of high essence for improving the rock breaking efficiency and optimizing the drilling parameters in mechanical rock breaking. In this study, the tool-rock interaction models of indentation and cutting are carried out by employing the discrete element method (DEM) to examine the rock failure modes of various brittleness rocks and critical indentation and cutting depths of the ductile to brittle failure mode transition. The results show that the cluster size and inter-cluster to intra-cluster bond strength ratio are the key factors which influence the UCS magnitude and the UCS to BTS ratio. The UCS to BTS strength ratio can be increased to a more realistic value using clustered rock model so that the characteristics of real rocks can be better represented. The critical indentation and cutting depth decrease with the brittleness of rock increases and the decreasing rate reduces dramatically against the brittleness value. This effort may lead to a better understanding of rock breaking mechanisms in mechanical excavation, and may contribute to the improvement in the design of rock excavation machines and the related parameters determination.