• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.253-255
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• 2004

The mining-related damages such as ground subsidence, acid mine drainage(AMD), and deforestation in the abandoned underground coal mine areas become an object of public concern. Therefore, the system to manage the miningrelated damages is needed for the effective drive of rehabilitation activities. The management system for Abandoned Underground Coal Mine using GIS includes the database about mining record and information associated with the mining-related damages and application programs to support mine damage prevention business. Also, this system would support decision-making policy for rehabilitation and provide basic geological data for regional construction works in abandoned underground coal mine areas.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.387-399
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• 2018

Mine reclamation project is closely related to human's past mining activities and the current human's living environment. It is a reason for the national management. In order to efficiently carry out mine reclamation projects, a precise investigation and analysis of the underground space of the abandoned mine is required. Korea MINE RECLAMATION Corp. is developing a practical technology that is effective in investigating and actually measuring underground cavities. MIRECO EYE system is an exploration equipment for 3D digitization and figuration of underground cavities. As combining a laser, sonar and image acquisition technology, it enables access to information about inaccessible underground cavities and effective management of subsidence risk of mined area. and currently it is also utilized for various purposes in related areas such as investigating urban sinkholes. This article is precise numerical and geometric information analysis obtained through MIRECO EYE system.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2019

Some leading countries in mining have a very quantitative guideline for underground mine opening design which is useful to minimize mine hazards such as rockfall and collapse. Those hazards sometimes can cause a huge damage on human life and property in the mines. Construction guidelines of underground mines in Korea consist of qualitative and general expressions although the workers' safety rules and guides are well provided. Recently, mining operations in Korea are going underground due to the environmental regulations and resource depletion at shallow depth, and therefore there is a growing demand on a specialized and systematic guideline for mine opening design securing the underground stability. In this paper, current status of mining industry, research trends, and mining guidelines in Korea and overseas have been reviewed to give an insight into developing a new Korean guideline for underground mine design.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.253-265
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• 2016

In this study, travel time data collection of mine equipments was conducted in an underground mine using a reverse Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) system. In the reverse RFID system, RFID readers and antennas are mounted on mine equipments, and RFID tags are attached to the underground mine gallery. Indoor experiments were performed to analyze how RFID reader transmission power levels affect tag readable area and tag recognition rates. The results showed that travel time measurement become precise when the reader transmission power was reduced, however tag recognition rates were reduced. The field experiments indicated that setting the reader transmission power to 28 dBm maintained the tag recognition rate while minimizing the tracking location error. In addition, the results revealed that the reverse RFID system can be used successfully in an underground mine to collect the travel time data of haulage trucks.

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

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.120-129
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• 2012

Recently, mining facilities have being installed in an underground space according to a social demand for environment-friendly mine development. The underground structures for mining facilities usually requires a large volume of space with width greater than height, and thus the stability assessment of the large-scale underground mine structure is an important issue. In this study, we analysed a factor of safety based on strength reduction method, and proposed a numerical design approach to determining the dimension of underground mine structures in combination with a strength reduction method and a multivariate regression analysis. Input design parameters considered in the present study were the stress ratio and shear strength of rock mass, and the width and cover depth of underground mine structures. The stabilities of underground mine structures were assessed in terms of factor of safety under different conditions of the above input parameters. It was calculated by the strength reduction method, and several kinds of fit functions were obtained through various multivariate regression analyses. Using a best-fit regression model, we proposed the charts which provide preliminary design information on the dimension of underground mine structures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.453-461
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• 2018

Shaft stations of underground uranium mines in China are not only utilized as waiting space for loaded mine-cars queuing to be hoisted but also as the principal channel for fresh air taken to working places. Therefore, assessment of how mine-car queuing processes affect shaft station radon concentration was carried out. Queuing network of mine-cars has been analyzed in an underground uranium mine, located in Quzhou, Zhejiang province of Eastern China. On the basis of mathematical analysis of the queue network, a MATLAB-based quasi-random number generating program utilizing Monte-Carlo methods was worked out. Extensive simulations were then implemented via MATALB operating on a DELL PC. Thereafter, theoretical calculations and field measurements of shaft station radon concentrations for several working conditions were performed. The queuing performance measures of interest, like average queuing length and waiting time, were found to be significantly affected by the utilization rate (positively correlated). However, even with respect to the "worst case", the shaft station radon concentration was always lower than $200Bq/m^3$. The model predictions were compared with the measuring results, and a satisfactory agreement was noted. Under current working conditions, queuing-induced variations of shaft station radon concentration of the study mine are not remarkable.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.76-86
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• 2020

In this study, a small autonomous driving robot was developed for underground mines using the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor. The developed robot measures the distances to the left and right wall surfaces using the LiDAR sensor, and automatically controls its steering to drive along the centerline of mine tunnel. A field experiment was conducted in an underground amethyst mine to test the driving performance of developed robot. During five repeated driving tests, the robot showed stable driving performance overall. There were no collision accidents with the wall of mine tunnel.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.408-416
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• 2015

The collapse of the underground cavities and voids, which were made for developing mineral resources, can cause the subsidence of the ground surface in the residential areas. During the Japanese colonial era and the 1960's mining boom period, lots of mines had been developed indiscriminately in Korea. Due to complicated geological conditions and mining methods, many of dangerous underground mine cavities with steep slopes had been generated at the shallow surface. Due to such conditions, it is difficult to directly apply valid foreign reclamation practice for the cavities in Korea environments. It is necessary to develop the efficient ground stabilization technologies for the Korea underground mine conditions to solve abandoned mine reclamation properly. Therefore, MIRECO and Korea government have been carrying out practical researches and technical developments together with other academic researchers and reclamation business partners, and various practical solutions such as surveying and exploration methods, proper cavity filling materials and reinforcement methods have been developed with application in the mine field. In this article, up to date technologies and R&D trends in the field of mine subsidence prevention technology are broadly reviewed to establish the future direction of a research and development.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.455-465
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• 2016

The collapse of underground mine development void for mineral resources can cause the subsidence of ground surface. In order to prevent the subsidence of ground, data such as maps or pictures of past mining site is important information for current mine reclamation works. In particular, mine subsidence management was based on mining maps and pictures. The process of the mining area surveys, safety evaluation, and ground reinforcement are normally possible with information such as maps and pictures in past mining. During the Japanese colonial period and 1960's, a lot of mines were developed in Korea indiscriminately. However, mining information at that time is limited to use. In the future, mining information will become even more rare. MIRECO intends to establish a realistic alternative solution. In this study, the basic numerical information of developed mine tunnels in Korea is statistically reviewed, and advanced underground cavity measuring technology was studied. 4,473 mine tunnel opening data of 1,784 abandoned mines in korea were collected and sorted. As a result of the analysis, the average value of small mine tunnel openings in Korea was 1.982 m in height and 1.959 m in width. The mean value of shape factor was analyzed as 0.485. The summary of these numerical mine data will be helpful for understanding and researching Korean abandoned mines. Therefore, the development of measurement technology for abandoned mine cavities and tunnels is expected to facilitate more effective mine subsidence management works in Korea.