• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2016

This study deals with the case that was the field application of the microseismic monitoring techniques for the stability monitoring in a domestic mine. The usefulness and limitations of the microseismic techniques were examined through analyzing the microseismic monitored data. The target limestone mine adopted a hybrid room-and-pillar mining method to improve the extraction ratio. The accelerometers were installed in each vertical pillar within the test bed which has the horizontal cross-section $50m{\times}50m$. The measured signals were divided into 4 types; blasting induced signal, drilling induced signal, damage induced signal, and electric noise. The stability analysis was performed based on the measured damage induced signals. After the blasting in the mining section close to the test bed, the damage of the pillar was increased and rockfall near the test bed could be estimated from monitored microseismic data. It was possible to assess the pillar stability from the changes of daily monitored data and the proposed safety criteria from the accumulated monitored data. However, there was a difficulty to determine the 3D microseismic source positions due to the 2D local sensor arrays. Also, it was needed to use real-time monitoring methods in domestic mines. By complementing the problems encountered in the mine application and comparing microseismic monitored data with mining operations, the microseismic monitoring technique can be used as a better safety method.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.537-546
• /
• 2013

Traffic congestion in existing tunnels has increased due to increased traffic volume and enlarged vehicles. Enlarging existing tunnels has advantages over constructing new tunnels by reducing land purchasing costs as well as minimizing natural environment destruction. In fact, many overseas projects for enlarging existing tunnels have been reported. Thus, it appears that the demand on enlarging existing tunnels continues to rise in Korea in near future. Nonetheless, the studies related to the enlarged tunnels have been relatively rare since there have been few tunnel enlargement projects in Korea. In the present study, the tunnel behavior and the stability of rock pillar when enlarging existing parallel tunnels were investigated by performing FE analysis and using existing theory and empirical relationships. Four different enlarging cases, depending on the enlargement types and directions, were examined in the study. According to the results, for the tunnels with the same pillar width after enlarged, the uni-laterally enlarged tunnel indicated 5 to 20% higher crown settlement compared to the bi-laterally enlarged tunnel, and for the tunnel with the narrowest pillar, the highest shotcrete stress was observed. Also, the strength/stress ratio for rock pillar was more than 1.0 for all four enlargement cases, and the Matsuda's method was found to give higher strength/stress ratio by about 50% compared to the Peck's method.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.109-135
• /
• 2020

Globally, the deepening depth in the underground is a situation of the high interest for a purpose of the development of various facilities. The development of deep underground space should be based on the structural stability of rocks. Spalling is known to have an impact on the structural stability degradation in deep underground space. As an attempt to predict spalling, many researchers have proposed predicted conditions in accordance with stress states which occur around the tunnel, rock conditions, and types of rock. In addition, the analysis on spalling method has been verified by using computer modeling such as FLAC, EXAMINE, Insight 2D, UDEC and FRACOD, along with in-situ measurement results. In Canada URL (Underground Research Tunnel), CWFS model (Cohesion Weakening Frictional Strengthening) was used to precisely predict for the state of spalling, comparing spalling modeling. CWFS model has been identified as a reliable method for predicting such phenomena. This study aims to analyze several cases of spalling, and then make a comparison between the conditions for spalling occurrence and the predicted results of model CWFS. With this, it investigates the applicability of prediction of spalling, targeting pillar under deep depth condition.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.118-129
• /
• 1998

A three dimensional boundary element method-BEAP3D was applied to the stability analysis of the mine openings not only to improve the stability during mining operations but also to serve the evaluation of the mine openings for further utilization. Stability analysis on the stability of the room-and-pillar stopes underneath of the old mine openings and the openings to be created by the newly proposed sublevel stoping method at the Nowhado Pyrophyllite Mine, showed that rock mass around the old and new stopes would be stable. Six stopes of a sublevel stoping designed for the Choongmu Limestone Quarry would be stable, too. A sublevel stoping method consisting of six stopes was similarly suggested for the Keumpyung Quartzite Mine. The stability can be guaranteed through out six stopes. Since mining starts from the bottom 1st sublevel to the uppermost sublevel, the safety of the stopes will improve together with the mining process. It would highly be recommended to investigate in-situ rock properties and the rock stresses for future studies. Even though the rock around the uppermost part and bottom of all the stopes have a very high factor of safety, spot reinforcements such as rock bolting would be recommended to mitigate the intermediate and minor principal stresses acting in a tensile mode.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.177-195
• /
• 2016

To secure the stability of geotechnical infrastructures and minimize failures during the construction process, a number of support systems have been introduced in the last several decades. In particular, stabilization methods using steel bars have been widely used in the field of geotechnical engineering. Rock bolt system is representative support system using steel bars. Pre-stressing has been applied to enhance reinforcement performance but can be released because of the failure of head or anchor sections. To overcome this deficiency, this paper proposes an innovative support system that can actively reinforce the weak ground along the whole structural element by introducing an active tension bolt containing a spring unit to the middle of the steel bar to increase its reinforcement capacity. In addition, the paper presents the support mechanism of the active tension bolt based on a theoretical study and employs an experimental study to validate the performance of the proposed active tension bolt based on a down-scaled model. To examine the feasibility of the active tension unit in a pillar, the paper considers a pullout test and a small-scale experimental model. The experimental results suggest the active tension bolt to be an effective support system for pillar reinforcement.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.577-587
• /
• 2021

Room and Pillar method is an underground facility construction method that maximizes the strength of the in-situ ground. In order to secure the safety of the underground space, it is necessary to secure the safety of the room actually used in addition to the safety of pillar of the room and Pillar method. In this study, the evaluation method for the safety of the room and rock pillar in the room and pillar method was studied through numerical analysis. Numerical analysis was performed for a total of 125 cases using ground conditions, pillar width, and room width as parameters, and the results were derived. As for the safety factor of the pillar, it was confirmed that the safety factor increased when the strength of the ground increased, and it was confirmed that the increment in the safety factor decreased when the width of the pillar was widened. The room strain was evaluated by applying the Critical strain. As the width of the pillar became narrower, the Critical strain was higher, and as the width of the room became smaller, the Critical strain was smaller. As a result of the correlation analysis between the safety factor of the pillar and the room strain, it was possible to derive the upper limit of the room strain that can secure the standard safety factor of the pillar according to the width of the pillar. It is judged that the results derived from this study can be used as a guideline to secure the safety of the room when the actual design is performed in consideration of the ground conditions and room width.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2008.03a
• /
• pp.181-188
• /
• 2008

In this study, estimation of behavioral characteristics between twin tunnels was performed through the series of laboratory experiment on the small scale tunnel model. In the model test, the experimental parameters were geological conditions, center to center distance between twin tunnels, application of discontinuous inclination. To estimated behavior of pillar and load-displacement relationship by model tests and numerical analyses.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.243-251
• /
• 2008

Recently, the mining methods are changing from surface mining to underground mining because of the increment of the environmental issues and legal regulations. Therefore, the stability of underground openings is a major concern for the safety and productivity of mining operations. In this paper, a survey of structural geology and discontinuities were carried out at a limestone mine. The relevant mechanical properties of rocks were determined by the laboratory tests and rock mass classifications (RMR and Q-system) for the mine design and input data for the stability analysis. The dimensions of unsupported span for underground openings and pillar were decided based on the RMR values of rock mass classifications. The stability analysis for the suggested mine design was examined through the empirical methods (stability graph method and critical span curve) and 3-D numerical analysis (Visual-FEA).

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2014

In Korea, in general, separation distance between existing parallel tunnels was set at two to five times as distant as the diameter of the tunnels according to ground conditions. Recently, however, actual applicability of closely spaced parallel tunnels whose distance between tunnel centers was shorter than the diameter has increased due to environmental damages resulting from massive cutting, restriction in purchase of required land, and maintenance of linear continuity. In particular, when the pillar width of tunnel decreases, the safety of pillars affects behaviors of the tunnel and therefore the need for diverse relevant studies has emerged. However, research so far has been largely confined to analysis of behavior characteristics of pillars, or parameters affecting design, and actually applicable and quantitative data have not been presented. Accordingly, in order to present a stability evaluation method which may maximally reflect construction conditions of spots, this study reflected topographical and stratigraphic characteristics of the portal part with the highest closeness between the tunnels, simulated multi-layer conditions with rock mass and complete weathering, and assessed the degree of effect the stability of pillars had on the entire tunnels through numerical analysis according to changes in pillar width by ground strength. This study also presented composite analysis result on ground surface settlement rates, interference volume rates, and average strength to stress and a formula, which may be applicable to actual work, to evaluate safety rates of closely spaced parallel tunnel pillars and minimum pillar width by ground strength based on failure criteria by Hoek-Brown (1980).

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.288-295
• /
• 1999

Concentrated stresses due to the underground tunnel excavation easily cause many problems such as yielding, popping, and failure at the immediate roof, wall and floor of tunnel. Therefore, it is very important to predict the possibility of these problems when a tunnel is excavated underground. There are two typical methods to predict these problems. The one is to predict problems from the analysis of field monitoring data and the other is to predict them from computer simulations using good site investment data. Using the second method, this study attempted to describe the time-dependent or progressive manner of immediate roof and wall due to the underground tunnel excavation. An iterative technique was used to represent progressive failure of rockmass with the Hoek and Brown theory. By developing and simulating three different shapes of twin tunnels, this research estimated the proper size of critical pillar width between tunnels, distributed stresses on the tunnel walls, and convergences of tunnel crowns. Moreover, results out of progressive failure technique based on the Hoek and Brown theory were compared with the results out of Mohr-Coulomb theory.