• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.285-296
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• 2020

Dams are important structures for management of water supply for irrigation or drinking, flood control, and electricity generation. In seismic regions, the structural safety of concrete gravity dams is important due to the high potential of life and economic loss if they fail. Therefore, the seismic analysis of existing dams in seismically active regions is crucial for predicting responses of dams to ground motions. In this paper, earthquake response of concrete gravity dams is investigated using the finite element (FE) method. The FE model accounts for dam-water-foundation rock interaction by considering compressible water, flexible foundation effects, and absorptive reservoir bottom materials. Several uncertainties regarding structural attributes of the dam and external actions are considered to obtain the fragility curves of the dam-water-foundation rock system. The structural uncertainties are sampled using the Latin Hypercube Sampling method. The Pine Flat Dam in the Central Valley of Fresno County, California, is selected to demonstrate the methodology for several limit states. The fragility curves for base sliding, and excessive deformation limit states are obtained by performing non-linear time history analyses. Tensile cracking including the complex state of stress that occurs in dams was also considered. Normal, Log-Normal and Weibull distribution types are considered as possible fits for fragility curves. It was found that the effect of the minimum principal stress on tensile strength is insignificant. It is also found that the probability of failure of tensile cracking is higher than that for base sliding of the dam. Furthermore, the loss of reservoir control is unlikely for a moderate earthquake.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.881-892
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• 2017

Design and management of concrete slabs in concrete-faced rock-fill dams are crucial issues for stability and overall dam safety since cracks in the concrete face induced by stress, shrinkage, and deterioration can cause severe leakage from the reservoir into the dam. Especially, the increase of dam height to a certain level to enhance the storage capacity and to improve hydraulic stability can lead to undesirable deformation behavior and stress distribution in the existing dam body and in the concrete slabs. In such conditions, simulation of a concrete slab with a numerical method should involve the use of an interface element because the behavior of the concrete slab does not follow the behavior of the dam body when the dam body settles due to the increase of dam height. However, the interfacial properties between the dam body and the concrete slab have yet to be clearly defined. In this study, construction sequence of a 125 m high CFRD in South Korea is simulated with commercial FDM software. The proper interfacial properties of the concrete slab are estimated based on a comparison to monitored vertical displacement history obtained from the concrete slab. Possibility of shear strength failure under the critical condition is investigated based on the simplified model. Results present the significance of the interfacial properties of the concrete slab.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.157-170
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• 2003

This study is performed to investigate the cause of slope failure and to suggest suitable stabilization methods for the failed rock slopes. The slope which is located along the national highway between Maesan and Kakok in Dangjin-gun failed during the construction of roads. Site investigation, drilling program, field measurements, rainfall records, and stability analyses are used to investigate the cause of the slope failure. The problem determining the cut-slope angle based on the existing design manual for the construction of roads is reviewed based on the case history given in this paper. If weakness layer and geological structures such as folds and faults are developed in a slope, slope failure is possible even though the direction of slope and the direction of discontinuities depart more than $30^{\circ}$.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.233-243
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• 2021

Rib spalling is a major issue affecting the safety of steeply inclined coal seam. And the failure coal face and support system can be affected with each other to generate a vicious cycle along with inducing large-scale collapse of surrounding rock in steeply inclined coal seam. In order to analyze failure mechanism and propose the corresponding prominent control measures of steeply inclined coal working face, mechanical model based on coal face-support-roof system and mechanical model of coal face failure was established to reveal the disaster mechanism of rib spalling and the sensitive analysis of related factors was performed. Furthermore, taking 3402 working face of Chen-man-zhuang coal mine as engineering background, numerical model by using FLAC3D was built to illustrate the propagation of displacement and stress fields in steeply inclined coal seam and verify the theory analysis as mentioned in this study. The results show that the coal face slide body in steeply inclined working face can be observed as the failure height of upper layer smaller than that of lower layer exhibiting with an irregular quadrilateral pyramid shape. Moreover, the cracks were originated from the upper layer of sliding body and gradually developed to the lower layer causing the final rib spalling. The influence factors on the stability of coal face can be ranked as overlying strata pressure (P) > mechanical parameters of coal body (e.g., cohesion (c), internal fraction angle (φ)) > support strength (F) > the support force of protecting piece (F') > the false angle of working face (Θ). Moreover, the corresponding control measures to maintain the stability of the coal face in the steeply inclined working face were proposed.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 1992

Rock mass having discontinuous plane almost appear roughness which have a great effect on shear strength. Rocks of studied object choose granites (15 samples), gneisses (7 samples), and andesites (1 sample). The purpose of this study was to clarify shear strength of discontinuous planes as value of shear strength angle (${\Phi}_p$), critical stress of roughness (${\sigma}_r$) and shear failure strength (${\tau}_o$). 1. Roughness decrease from ${\Phi}_i=38.03^{\circ}$ to $33.21^{\circ}$ that is, friction angle has the highest value at first stage and has the lowest value at the last stage. 2. Critical angle of roughness distribution within $45^{\circ}$ (test max. $angle=43^{\circ}$), JRC(Joint Roughness Coefficient) is less than 14 and lies distribution range of boundary is following: $JRC=-4.63Ln{\sigma}n+5.63$. 3. When the roughness critical stress(${\sigma}_T) is from 0.1 to 3 .56Mpa, shear failure strength of roughness (${\tau}_o$) is from 0.01 to 0.46Mpa, shear strength(${\tau}$) of discontinuous plane is from 3.65 to 39.11 Mpa. If loading is higher than these values, collapse and sliding will occur on the rock mass.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.501-517
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• 2011

In general, the tunnel stability during excavation is assessed by comparing measured displacements at roof and sidewall to control criteria. The control criteria were established based on the past experience that considered ground conditions, size of the tunnel cross section, construction method, supports, etc. Therefore, a number of researches on the control criteria using the critical strain have been conducted. However, the critical strain obtained from uniaxial compression tests have drawbacks of not taking damage in rock mass due to increase of stress level and longitudinal arching into account. In this paper, damage-controlled tests simulating stress level and longitudinal arching during tunnel excavation were carried out in addition to uniaxial compression tests to investigate the critical strain characteristics of granite and gneiss that are most abundant rock types in Korean peninsula. Then, the critical strains obtained from damage-controlled tests were compared to those from uniaxial compression tests; the former showed less values than the latter. These results show that the critical strain obtained from uniaxial compression tests has to be reduced a little bit to take stress history during tunnel excavation into account. Moreover, the damage critical strain was proposed to be used for assessment of the brittle failure that usually occurs in deep tunnels.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.27-35
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• 2012

The discontinuity of rock is one of important elements that have impact on the dynamic movement of rock. A slope made of gneiss has complicated geological structure because of the gneiss forming process through metamorphism covering wide range and the anisotropic structure with foliation. In this study, before cutting slope, the rock of slope had been found as a good quality by the boring test. But during construction tension cracks had occurred in the section with 170m length during large-scale excavation work with depth more than 20m. Ground surface geological investigation, boring exploration, resistivity logging and borehole image processing had been done to find the causes of the tension crack. It was possible to estimate the scale of fault existing in large area through resistivity logging and geological investigation. Large scale slickenside and fault clay had been found as the result of comprehensive analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.139-149
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• 2017

The maintenance, repair, and reinforcement projects and structural stability assessments of Seokguram have primarily focused on examining the condition of stone members of Seokguram and the concrete dome structure for Seokguram. However, a 12 m-high rock slope located behind Seokguram raises a concern of slope failure and rockfall, which may reduce stability of Seokguram. It is also unclear whether the soil slopes and masonry wall at the side and the front of Seokguram have sufficient long-term stability against localized heavy rains and earthquakes, which have been frequent in recent years. The present study investigates the ground and the slopes around Seokguram using detailed field survey to identify geographical and geological risk factors, and assess structural stability of the exposed rock mass behind and the slope in front of Seokguram and the masonry wall using stability analysis.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.79-96
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• 1994

A tunnel design expert system entitled NESTED is developed using the artificial neural network. The expert system includes three neural network computer models designed for the stability assessment of underground openings and the estimation of correlation between the RMR and Q systems. The expert system consists of the three models and the computerized rock mass classification programs that could be driven under the same user interface. As the structure of the neural network, a multi -layer neural network which adopts an or ror back-propagation learning algorithm is used. To set up its knowledge base from the prior case histories, an engineering database which can control the incomplete and erroneous information by learning process is developed. A series of experiments comparing the results of the neural network with the actual field observations have demonstrated the inferring capabilities of the neural network to identify the possible failure modes and the support timing. The neural network expert system thus complements the incomplete geological data and provides suitable support recommendations for preliminary design of tunnels in rock masses.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.107-116
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• 2007

Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) method is being used increasingly in geotechnical design practice worldwide, and is expected to completely replace the current Allowable Stress Design (ASD) method in the near future. LRFD has advantages over ASD in that it allows the design of superstructures and substructures at a consistent reliable level by quantification of failure probability based on reliability analysis. At present, resistance factors for cast-in-place piles embedded in rocks are determined by AASHTO only for the intact rock conditions. In Korea, however, most of the bedrocks in which piles are embedded are heavily weathered. Thus, this study will try to determine the resistance factors of heavily weathered rocks (so-called intermediate goo-materials). To this aim, reliability analysis was carried out to evaluate the resistance factors of cast-in-place piles embedded in intermediate geo-materials in Korea. Pile load test data of 21 cast-in-place piles of 4 construction sites were used for the analysis. Depending on the method which calculates the pile capacities, the resulting resistance factors ranged between 0.1 and 0.6.