• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.41-50
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• 2019

Gyeongju bentonite is a buffer material primarily considered in Korea and it is highly compacted as a part of an engineered barrier system (EBS) of high-level radioactive waste repository. The compacted bentonite undergoes swelling stress by groundwater penetration and thermal stress by decay heat from a canister. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the compacted bentonite buffer material is crucial for the performance assessment of EBS. This paper aims to evaluate deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite using seismic methods. Two sets of compacted bentonite specimens were prepared having dry densities of $1.59g/cm^3$ and $1.75g/cm^3$ with water contents of 10.6% and 8.7%. Free-free resonant column tests were performed to measure constrained and unconstrained compression wave velocities. With the measured wave velocities, Young's modulus ($E_{max}$) and constrained modulus ($M_{max}$), material damping ratio ($D_{min}$), and Poisson's ratio at small strain were determined. As results, this paper evaluates the deformation properties of Gyeongju compacted bentonite and compares them with the results of previous researches.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.37-45
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• 2006

Bender elements, composed of thin piezo-ceramics and elastic shims, have been used to measure shear wave velocities of specimens in laboratories. In a preliminary stage of their field applications, an in-house research of optimizing suitable bender elements and their geometrical arrangement has been carried out in a barrel of kaolinite-water mixture. Two types of measurement configuration, similar to cross-hole and in-hole seismic testing, have been implemented. prototype instrumented rods were penetrated into a soft clay layer in the west coast and excellent shear waves were recorded. Development of penetration device (mandrel) and associated instrumented rods are in progress for deeper investigation.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.259-269
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• 2022

In this study, we introduce a canonical correlation analysis method to accurately assess the tunnel damage potential of ground motion. The proposed method can retain information relating to the initial variables. A total of 100 ground motion records are used as seismic inputs to analyze the dynamic response of three different profiles of tunnels under deep and shallow burial conditions. Nine commonly used ground motion parameters were selected to form the canonical variables of ground motion parameters (GMP_CCA). Five structural dynamic response parameters were selected to form canonical variables of structural dynamic response parameters (DRP_CCA). Canonical correlation analysis is used to maximize the correlation coefficients between GMP_CCA and DRP_CCA to obtain multivariate ground motion parameters that can be used to comprehensively assess the tunnel damage potential. The results indicate that the multivariate ground motion parameters used in this study exhibit good stability, making them suitable for evaluating the tunnel damage potential induced by ground motion. Among the nine selected ground motion parameters, peck ground acceleration (PGA), peck ground velocity (PGV), root-mean-square acceleration (RMSA), and spectral acceleration (Sa) have the highest contribution rates to GMP_CCA and DRP_CCA and the highest importance in assessing the tunnel damage potential. In contrast to univariate ground motion parameters, multivariate ground motion parameters exhibit a higher correlation with tunnel dynamic response parameters and enable accurate assessment of tunnel damage potential.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.9-15
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• 2023

Compaction is performed in civil engineering sites to secure the stability of the ground and prevent settlement. While the process of compaction is crucial, it is also essential to evaluate the degree of compaction after the completion of the process. In domestic sites, the evaluation of compaction is mainly conducted on a small number of spot using point-based tests such as plate load tests and sand cone tests. The methods presented so far allow assessment of surface compaction, but evaluating compaction in deeper layers poses challenges. Moreover, due to the limited coverage of point-based testing, it is difficult to achieve an overall assessment of compaction. As a solution to these issues, the Spectral-Analysis-of-Surface-Waves (SASW) tests were utilized to evaluate compaction. SASW tests offer a broader measurement range compared to point-based tests, and depending on the test setup, this method can provide the stiffness of the ground at greater depths. In this study, SASW tests were conducted in a compacted soil site under different conditions to assess compaction. Additionally, Nuclear Density Gauge tests were conducted concurrently to compare and verify the results of SASW. The research results confirmed the feasibility of evaluating compaction using SASW at the geotechnical site.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.199-210
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• 2023

The physical properties of rocks in reservoirs change after CO₂ injection, we modeled a reservoir with a transition zone within which the physical properties change linearly. The function of the Wolf reflection coefficient consists of the velocity ratio of the upper and lower layers, the frequency, and the thickness of the transition zone. This function can be used to estimate the thickness of a reservoir or seafloor transition zone. In this study, we propose a method for predicting the thickness of the transition zone using deep learning. To apply deep learning, we modeled the thickness-dependent Wolf reflection coefficient on an artificial transition zone formation model consisting of sandstone reservoir and shale cap rock and generated time-frequency spectral images using the continuous wavelet transform. Although thickness estimation performed by comparing spectral images according to different thicknesses and a spectral image from a trace of the seismic stack did not always provide accurate thicknesses, it can be applied to field data by obtaining training data in various environments and thus improving its accuracy.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

To reveal and classify site characteristics in densely populated areas in Chuncheon, Korea, Rayleigh-waves were recorded at 50 sites including four sites in the forest area using four 1-Hz velocity sensors and 24 4.5-Hz vertical geophones during the period of January 2011 to May 2013. Dispersion curves of the Rayleigh waves obtained by the extended spatial autocorrelation method were inverted to derive shear-wave velocity ($v_s$) models comprising 40 horizontal layers of 1-m thickness. Depths to weathered rocks ($D_b$), shear wave velocities of these basement rocks ($v_s^b$), average velocities of the overburden layer ($\bar{v}_s^s$), and the average velocity to a depth of 30 m ($v_s30$), were then derived from those models. The estimated values of $D_b$, $v_s^b$, $\bar{v}_s^s$, and $v_s30$ for 46 sites at lower altitudes were in the ranges of 5 to 29 m, 404 to 561 m/s, 208 to 375 ms/s, and 226 to 583 m/s, respectively. According to the Korean building code for seismic design, the estimated $v_s30$ indicates that the lower altitude areas in Chuncheon are classified as $S_C$ (very dense soil and soft rock) or $S_D$ (stiff soil). To determine adequate proxies for $v_s30$, we compared the computed values with land cover, lithology, topographic slope, and surface elevation at each of the measurement sites. Due to a weak correlation (r = 0.41) between $v_s30$ and elevation, the best proxy of them, applications of this proxy to Chuncheon of a relatively small area seem to be limited.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.81-92
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• 2001

According to analyses of high-resolution seismic profiles (air gun, sparker, and SBP) and a deep-drill core(YSDP 105) in the mid-eastern Yellow Sea, stratigraphic and geoacoustic models have been established and seismo-acoustic modeling has been fulfilled using ray tracing of finite element method. Stratigraphic model reflects seismo-, litho-, and chrono-stratigraphic sequences formed under a significant influence of Quaternary glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. Each sequence consists of terrestrial to very-shallow-marine coarse-grained lowstand systems tract and tidal fine-grained transgressive to highstand systems tract. Based on mean grain-size data (121 samples) of the drill core, bulk density and P-wave velocity of depositional units have been inferred and extrapolated down to a depth of the recovery using the Hamilton's regression equations. As goo-acoustic parameters, the 121 pairs of bulk density and P-wave velocity have been averaged on each unit of the stratigraphic model. As a result of computer ray-tracing simulation of the subsurface strata, we have found that there are complex ray paths and many acoustic-shadow zones owing to the presence of irregular layer boundaries and low-velocity layers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.2 s.177
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• pp.111-128
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• 2006

Three dimensional crustal structure and source features of earthquake hypocenters on the Korean peninsula were investigated using P and S-wave travel time tomography. The main goal of this research was to find Vp/Vs anomalies at earthquake hypocenters as well as those of crustal structure of basins and deep tectonic settings. This allowed fer the extrapolation of more detailed seismotectonic force from the Korean peninsula. The earthquake hypocenters were found to have high Vp/Vs ratio discrepancies (VRD) at the vertical sections. High V/p/Vs ratios were also found in the sedimentary basins and beneath the Chugaryong Rift Zone (CRZ), which was due to mantle plume that subsequently solidified with many fractures and faults which were saturated with connate water. The hypocenters of most earthquakes were found in the upper crust for Youngwol (YE), Kyongju (KE), Hongsung (HE), Kaesong (KSE), Daekwan (DKE), and Daehung (DHE) earthquakes, but near the subcrust or the Moho Discontinuity for Mt. Songni (SE), Sariwon (SRE) and Mt. Jiri (JE) earthquakes. Especially, we found hot springs of the Daekwan, Daehung and Unsan regions coincide with high VRD. Also, this cannot rule out the possibility that there are some partial meltings in the subcrust of this region. High VRD might indicate that many faults and fractures with connate water were dehydrated when earthquakes took place, reducing shear modulus in the hypocenter areas. This is can be explained by due to the fact that a point source which is represented by the moment tensor that may involve changes in volume, shear fracture, and rigidity. High Vp/Vs ratio discrepancies (VRD) were also found beneath Mt. Backdu beneath 40 km, indicating that magma chamber existed beneath Mt. Backdu is reducing shear modulus of S-wave velocity.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.313-324
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• 2009

We explore the effect of particle shape and size on 3-dimensional (3D) network and pore structure of porous earth materials composed of glass beads and silica gel using NMR micro-imaging in order to gain better insights into relationship between structure and the corresponding hydrologic and seismological properties. The 3D micro-imaging data for the model porous networks show that the specific surface area, porosity, and permeability range from 2.5 to $9.6\;mm^2/mm^3$, from 0.21 to 0.38, and from 11.6 to 892.3 D (Darcy), respectively, which are typical values for unconsolidated sands. The relationships among specific surface area, porosity, and permeability of the porous media are relatively well explained with the Kozeny equation. Cube counting fractal dimension analysis shows that fractal dimension increases from ~2.5－2.6 to 3.0 with increasing specific surface area from 2.5 to $9.6\;mm^2/mm^3$, with the data also suggesting the effect of porosity. Specific surface area, porosity, permeability, and cube counting fractal dimension for the natural mongolian sandstone are $0.33\;mm^2/mm^3$, 0.017, 30.9 mD, and 1.59, respectively. The current results highlight that NMR micro-imaging, together with detailed statistical analyses can be useful to characterize 3D pore structures of various porous earth materials and be potentially effective in accounting for transport properties and seismic wave velocity and attenuation of diverse porous media in earth crust and interiors.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.102-115
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to review several different methods calculating gas hydrate saturations. There are three methods using downhole log data, core data (including pressure core), and seismic velocity data. Archie's equation using electrical resistivity of downhole log data is widely used for saturation calculation. In this case, Archie's parameters should be defined accurately. And the occurrence types of gas hydrate significantly affect to saturation calculation. Thus saturation calculation should be carefully conducted. The methods using chlorinity and pressure core data are directly calculated from core sample. So far, the saturation calculated from pressure core gives accurate and quantitative values. But this method is needed much more time and cost. Thus acquisition of the continuous data with sediment depth is realistically hard. The recent several results show that the saturation calculated from resistivity data is the highest values, while the value calculated from pressure core is the lowest. But this trend is not always absolutely. Thus, to estimate accurate gas hydrate saturation, the values calculated from several methods should be compared.