• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2022

An increased number of cases have occurred in applying ICT technology in the resource development field due to factors such as safety, eco-friendliness, and low cost since the 2000s. In Korea, the 2nd mining master plan specified the significance of converging the full cycle of mining and ICT, while the 3rd mining master plan highlighted ICT and smart mining such as supporting the supply of an ICT mining device and introducing demonstrational smart mining. This study introduces the application of an ICT device and safety system operation in the Jangseong underground mine of Korea Cement Co., Ltd. Currently, Jangseong mine combines two different kinds of 3D equipment including the handheld 3D scanner and multi-station that provides both the measurement and 3D scanning to perform a 3D measurement of the mine. Taken from the 3D measurement of the mine, it is now possible to identify any hazardous areas and abnormalities in different directions and analyze the safety of the crown pillar between two stopes in different level. Besides, the real-time location tracking and communications system have established highly efficient rescue and evacuation plans to effectively deal with any accidents in the mine.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.411-429
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• 2022

Instrumentations are essential in NATM tunnels, however measuring instruments are installed and applied without performance verification procedures due to insufficient research on methods, procedures, regulations, etc. to verify the reliability of the measuring instruments. In this study, domestic and foreign regulations relating to the verification and calibration of instruments were investigated and necessities for accreditation standards were proposed. In order to identify the causes of the defects, an external inspection was performed on rock bolt stressmeter and rod extensometer, which are measuring instruments with relatively complex structures. For verifying the performance of these instruments, verification devices were developed that can load step-by-step and the causes of defects were identified in measuring instruments of nine domestic manufacturers. Through the performance test, a number of measuring instruments were found to be defective. It was important to test the performance of the instruments in the state of a finished product and accordingly performance inspection methods and procedures were proposed. The results of this study are expected to help preparing related regulations for verifying instrument performance and selecting instruments in the field.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.502-517
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• 2022

As the use of TBM increases, research has recently increased to to analyze TBM data with machine learning techniques to predict the exchange cycle of disc cutters, and predict the advance rate of TBM. In this study, a regression prediction of disc cutte wear of slurry shield TBM site was made by combining machine learning based on the machine data and the geotechnical data obtained during the excavation. The data were divided into 7:3 for training and testing the prediction of disc cutter wear, and the hyper-parameters are optimized by cross-validated grid-search over a parameter grid. As a result, gradient boosting based on the ensemble model showed good performance with a determination coefficient of 0.852 and a root-mean-square-error of 3.111 and especially excellent results in fit times along with learning performance. Based on the results, it is judged that the suitability of the prediction model using data including mechanical data and geotechnical information is high. In addition, research is needed to increase the diversity of ground conditions and the amount of disc cutter data.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.451-463
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• 2022

Whenever a mineshaft accidentally collapses, speedy risk assessment is both required and crucial. But onsite safety diagnosis by humans is reportedly difficult considering the additional risk of collapse of the unstable mineshaft. Generally, drones equipped with high-speed lidar sensors can be used for such inspection. However, the drone technology is restrictively applicable at very shallow depth, failing in mineshafts with depths of hundreds of meters because of the limit of wireless communication and turbulence inside the mineshaft. In previous study, a three-dimensional (3D) scanning system with a single channel lidar was fabricated and operated using towed cable in a mineshaft to a depth of 200 m. The rotation and pendulum movement errors of the measuring unit were compensated for by applying the data of inertial measuring unit and comparing the similarity between the scan data of the adjacent depths (Kim et al., 2020). However, the errors grew with scan depth. In this paper, a multi-channel lidar sensor to obtain a continuous cross-sectional image of the mineshaft from a winch system pulled from bottom upward. In this new approach, within overlapped region viewed by the multi-channel lidar, rotation error was compensated for by comparing the similarity between the scan data at the same depth. The fabricated system was applied to scan 0-165 m depth of the mineshaft with 180 m depth. The reconstructed image was depicted in a 3D graph for interpretation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.353-362
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• 2022

The wet shotcrete refers to a method in which all materials are mixed and then supplied to the spraying device, compressed air is added to the nozzle, and the spraying speed is improved to spray on the target surface. In order to reproduce the amount of shotcrete used in the wet method in the field and the situation at the laboratory scale, it is essential to control the discharge amount of the equipment. In this study, in order to increase the reproducibility of field conditions at the laboratory scale, a flow control system for shotcrete mortar spraying equipment was developed and applied to the equipment. To verify the developed equipment, a discharge control test using water and mortar was performed. In the developed control system, the discharge was smoothly controlled according to the user input value for the mono pump, but the discharge was not properly controlled according to the input value for the screw pump because of a reducer. When a speed reducer is attached, it is necessary to adjust the operation rate of the screw pump close to the target flow rate by increasing the operation rate of the screw pump while lowering the operation rate of the mono pump.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.298-311
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• 2022

Some problems, such as aging workers, a decreased population due to a low birth rate, and shortage of skilled workers, are rising in construction sites. Therefore research for smart construction technology that can be improved for productivity, safety, and quality has been recently developed with government support by replacing traditional construction technology with advanced digital technology. In particular, the motor grader that mainly performs road surface flattening is a construction machine that requires the application of automation technology for repetitive construction. It is predicted that the construction period will be shortened if the construction automation technology such as trajectory tracking, automation work, and remote control technology is applied. In this study, we introduce the hardware and software architecture of the smart motor grader to apply unmanned and automation technology and then analyze the traditional earthwork method of the motor grader. We suggested the application plans for the path pattern and blade control method of the smart motor grader based on this. In addition, we verified the performance of waypoint-based path-following depending on scenarios and the blade control's performance through tests.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 2023

In this study, we simulated induced seismicity in the Groningen natural gas reservoir using 2D hydro-mechanical coupled discrete element modelling (DEM). The code used is PFC2D (Particle Flow Code 2D), a commercial software developed by Itasca, and in order to apply to this study we further developed 1)initialization of inhomogeneous reservoir pressure distribution, 2)a non-linear pressure-time history boundary condition, 3)local stress field monitoring logic. We generated a 2D reservoir model with a size of 40 × 50 km² and a complex fault system, and simulated years of pressure depletion with a time range between 1960 and 2020. We simulated fault system failure induced by pressure depletion and reproduced the spatiotemporal distribution of induced seismicity and assessed its failure mechanism. Also, we estimated the ground subsidence distribution and confirmed its similarity to the field measurements in the Groningen region. Through this study, we confirm the feasibility of the presented 2D hydro-mechanical coupled DEM in simulating the deformation of a complex fault system by hydro-mechanical coupled processes.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.95-107
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• 2023

In this study, the effect of repeated traffic vibration on the long-term stability of mine openings is analyzed for re-utilization of abandoned mine galleries. The research mine in this study is an underground limestone mine which is developed by room-and-pillar mining method, and a dynamic numerical analysis is performed assuming that the research mine will be utilized as a logistics warehouse. The actual traffic vibration generated by the mining vehicles is measured directly, and its waveform is used as input data for dynamic numerical analysis, As a results of dynamic numerical analysis, after 20,000 repetitions of traffic vibration, the mine openings is analyzed to be stable, but an increase in the maximum principal stress and an additional area of plastic zone are observed in the analysis section. As shown in the changes of displacement, volumetric strain, and maximum principal stress which are measured at the mine opening walls. It is confirmed that if the repeated traffic vibration is continuously applied, the instability of the mine openings can be increased. Authors expect that the results of this study can be used as a reference for basic study on utilization of abandoned mine.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.519-530
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• 2023

Moye's analytical solution was examined as a method for constant-head tests under steady-state conditions, and results were compared with transient-state analyses in in situ hydraulic tests. The sensitivity of hydraulic conductivities calculated using Moye's method increased with the length of the test section, which should be as large as possible under test conditions. Particularly in low-permeability media with less than 10^-8 m/sec of hydraulic conductivity, hydraulic conductivity is lower than that under transient-state conditions and can be recalculated by adjusting the boundary between radial and spherical flow assumed in Moye's equation. Constant-head tests performed in the research borehole at the KAERI Underground Research Tunnel (KURT) indicated that transmissivities derived from the constant-head withdrawal test under transient-state conditions in low-permeability media were higher than those derived from steady-state tests, likely because the groundwater flow boundary was smaller than the "half of the test-section length"assumed by Moye's equation. When interpreting constant-head test results for crystalline rock, the hydrogeological properties of the medium may be better understood by considering assumed conditions accompanying analysis of the steady-state condition and comparing them with results for the transient-state analysis, rather than simply assuming properties based on steady-state analyses.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.26-37
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• 2023

In order to determine the amount of explosives that can minimize the vibration generated during tunnel construction using the blasting method, it is necessary to derive the blasting vibration coefficients, K and n, by analyzing the vibration records of trial blasting in the field or under similar conditions. In this study, we aimed to develop a technique that can derive reasonable K and n when trial blasting cannot be performed. To this end, we collected full-scale trial blast data and studied how to predict the blast vibration coefficient (K, n) according to the type of explosive, center cut blasting method, rock origin and type, and rock grade using deep learning (DL). In addition, the correction value between full-scale and borehole trial blasting results was calculated to compensate for the limitations of the borehole trial blasting results and to carry out a design that aligns more closely with reality. In this study, when comparing the available explosive amount according to the borehole trial blasting result equation, the predictions from deep learning (DL) exceed 50%, and the result with the correction value is similar to other blast vibration estimation equations or about 20% more, enabling more economical design.