• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.69-83
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• 2012

A study on strength decrease due to water contents through infiltration has been conducted with 9 rocks of high frequency in Korea. It has been proved that a strength decrease through infiltration has high dependence on rock strengths ranges while the species of rock have no impact. It has been found that the weaker the rocks are, the more sensitive the strength decreases are, and that water content of 0.5% corresponds to strength decrease of almost 50%. Another finding is that most rocks have a failure when water content is about one quarter~one half of its saturation. It has been shown that the weakening of rock strength due to water content results from leaching and the weakening of bonding strength of cementation materials.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.212-223
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• 2014

In this study, the stability analyses for metal mine roadways at a great depth were performed. In-situ stress measurements using hydrofracturing, numerous laboratory tests for rock cores and GSI & RMR classifications were conducted in order to find the physical properties of both intact rock and in-situ rock mass distributed in the studied metal mine. Through the scenario analysis and probabilistic assessment on the results of rock mass classification, the in-situ ground conditions of mine roadways were divided into the best, the average and the worst cases, respectively. The roadway stabilities corresponding to the respective conditions were assessed by way of the elasto-plastic analysis. In addition, the appropriate roadway shapes and the support patterns were examined through the numerical analyses considering the blast damaged zone around roadway. It was finally shown to be necessary to reduce the radius of roadway roof curvature and/or to install the crown reinforcement in order to enhance the stability of studied mine roadways.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.205-215
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• 2011

In this study, we analyzed physical properties of granites and their correlation with rock mass classification methods. The granite samples were obtained from field survey, in-situ borehole tests and laboratory tests for a design phase of various roads, railways and other civil engineering works in Korea. Among the measured physical properties, the results of unit weight, compressive strength, tensile strength, seismic velocity, cohesion, friction angle, elastic modulus and deformation modulus were introduced. We also correlated these properties with the compressive strength. The results of different rock classification method of RQD, RMR, and Q-system against the granites in Korea were compared with each other, and the correlation equations were proposed in a more simplified form. We also derived RMR values using the compressive strength as well as the RQD values of in-situ drilled cores, and estimated the deformation modulus of in-situ rock mass in terms of the RMR values.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.393-402
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• 2012

A behavior of ridge-cut rock slope had been monitored by installing inclinometers and regional slope movement toward rear side of cut face was detected. To delineate the governing factors of slope behavior, especially backward slip of ridge-cut slope, petrographic characteristics of rock cores obtained from four drilled boreholes had been examined. BIPS images inside boreholes had been acquired and structural characteristics of slope rock had been studied. Mechanical properties of discontinuity planes distributed in the drilled core had been measured and the shear strength of coal seam imbedded-discontinuity planes also had been obtained by performing the direct shear test. Monitoring results of slope behavior had been analyzed by comprehensibly considering both the mechanical and structural characteristics of slope rock and coal seam-imbedded discontinuity planes, and the potential governance of coal seam and clay minerals embedded in the joint plane on the regional slope behavior has been also identified.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.305-315
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• 2011

A total of 864 measurements for P- and S- wave velocity of acrylic and stainless steel core samples have been performed with respect to their lengths and axial load applied. S-wave velocity measurement was much harder than P-wave velocity, so that it showed higher deviation in measured S-wave velocity with respect to repeated measurement, length of the cores, and the axial load applied. Velocity measurements for acrylic cores showed more stable and less than half of the variation between the measurements than the stainless steel cores. This seems to be come from better coupling between the transducers and acrylic cores than stainless cores, and from larger value of the first arrival time in a similar system noise environments. From the analysis of the 864 measurements, it is recommended that the length of the core be 60 ~ 90 mm, axial load between 20 kg (27.7 $N/cm^2$) and 30 kg (41.6 $N/cm^2$) for measurement of wave velocity of the acrylic and stainless steel cores. Especially for measuring S-wave velocity of stainless steel core, core length should be less than 50 mm, otherwise it will be affected by mode conversion or others. These results can be used in measurement and correction for system delay in wave velocity measurement for rock cores.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.85-92
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• 1999

Blasting induced damage boundary was determined by measuring vibrations adjacent to charging holes. the criterion adopted to define damages is that blasting-induced strains exceeding tension-crack strain level cause damages. The blasting vibrations were measured in terms of acceleration and converted to strains. The tension-crack strain level was determined with tensile strengths and elastic moduli of rock cores. The damage zone was found to be extended radially about 1 meter from the blasthole detonated with 250 to 700 grams of explosives. The comparison of shear wave velocity profiles before and after blasting shows that the damage boundary of 1 meter seems to be reliable.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2021

Several studies investigating the behavior and environmental distribution of rare earth elements (REEs) have been reviewed to determine the geochemical processes that may affect their concentrations and fractionation patterns in groundwater and whether these elements can be used as tracers for groundwater-rock interactions and groundwater flow paths in small catchments. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), equipped with an ultrasonic nebulizer and active-film multiplier detector, is routinely used as an analytical technique to measure REEs in groundwater, facilitating the analysis of dissolved REE geochemistry. This review focuses on the distribution of REEs in groundwater and their application as tracers for groundwater geochemistry. Our review of existing literature suggests that REEs in ice cores can be used as effective tracers for atmospheric particles, aiding the identification of source regions.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1C
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• pp.25-31
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• 2006

It is common to use the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of intact rock to estimate the shaft resistance of rock socketed drilled shaft. Therefore the most design manuals give a guide to use the UCS of rock core to estimate the shaft resistance of rock-socketed drilled shaft. Recently, however the design manuals for highway bridge (KSCE, 2001) and of AASHTO (2000) were revised to use the UCS of rock mass with RQD instead of the UCS of rock core so that the estimated resistance could be representative of field conditions. Questions have been raised in application of the new guide to the domestic main bed rock types. The intrinsic drawbacks in terms of RQD were comprised in the questions, too. As the results, in 2002 the new guide in the design manual for highway bridge (KSCE, 2001) were again revised to use the UCS of rock core to estimate the shaft resistance of rock-socketed drilled shafts. In this paper, various methods which can estimate the UCS of rock mass from intact rock core were reviewed. It seems that among those, the Hoek-Brown method is very reliable and practical for the estimation of the UCS of rock mass from rock cores. As the results, using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion a modified guide for the estimation of the shaft resistance of rock-socketed drilled shafts was suggested in this paper. Through a case study it is shown that the suggested method gives a good agreement with the measured data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.1205-1210
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• 2005

The behavior of rock mass and solute(e.g. groundwater, radioactivity) flow in fractured rock can be directly influenced by joint roughness. The characteristics of joint roughness is also a main factor for the rock classification(e.g. RMR, Q system) which is usually used in tunnel design. Nevertheless, most of JRC estimation has been carried out only by the examination with the naked eye. This JRC estimation has a lack of objectivity because each investigator judges JRC by his subjective opinion. Therefore, it will be desirable that the assessment of JRC is performed by a numerical analysis which can give a quantitative value corresponding to the characteristics of a roughness curve. Meanwhile, roughness curves for joint surfaces which are observed in drill cores have been obtained only along linear profiles. Although roughness curves are measured in the same joint surface, they can frequently show diverse aspects in a standpoint of roughness characteristics. If roughness curves can be measured along the elliptical circumferences of joint surfaces from core scanning images or Televiewer images, they will certainly be more comprehensive than those measured along linear profiles for roughness characteristics of joint surfaces. This study is focus on dealing with (1) extracting automatically roughness curves from core scan image or Televiewer image, (2) improving the accuracy of quantitative assessment of JRC using fractal dimension concept.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.673-679
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• 2005

Urban conditions such as underground facilities and ambient noises due to cultural activity restrict the application of conventional geophysical techniques in general. We used the linear array microtremor technique which uses these noises as strong energy source. The result parameter of the survey is shear wave velocity profile which had been applied as an fundamental information for the determination of the rock support type in tunnel design. This study was the first case in Korea which utilized a surface geophysical technique yielding successful result in urban area especially under the existing rail ways. The quantitative relation between the shear wave velocity from this method and the rock mass rating(RMR) determined from the inspection of the cores recovered from the same boreholes showed high statistical relationship. These correlations were then used to relate the shear-wave velocity to RMR along the entire profile.