• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.783-799
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• 2015

In this study, effect of horizontal in situ stress on failure mechanism around underground openings excavated in isotropic, elastic rock zones is investigated. For estimating the plastic zone occurrence, an induced stress influence area approach (Bray Equations) was modified to define critical stress ratio according to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Results obtained from modified calculations were compared with results of some other analytical solutions for plastic zone thickness estimation and the numerical modelling (finite difference method software, FLAC2D) study. Plastic zone and its geometry around tunnels were analyzed for different in situ stress conditions. The modified equations gave similar results with those obtained from the other approaches. However, safer results were calculated using the modified equations for high in situ stress conditions and excessive ratio of horizontal to vertical in situ stresses. As the outcome of this study, the modified equations are suggested to use for estimating the plastic zone occurrence and its thickness around the tunnels with circular cross-section.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.397-414
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• 2015

Three different applications for monitoring displacements in underground structures using a BOTDR-based distributed optical fiber strain sensing system are presented. These applications are related to the strain measurements of (1) instrumented PVC tube designed to be attached to tunnel side wall and ceiling as a sensor; (2) rock bolts for tunnels; and (3) shotcrete lining under loading. The effectiveness of using the proposed strain sensing system is evaluated by carrying out laboratory tests, in-situ measurements, and numerical simulations. The results obtained from this validation process provide confidence that the optical fiber is able to quantify strain fields under a variety of loading conditions and consequently use this information to estimate the behavior of rock mass during mining activity. As the measuring station can be located as far as 1 km of distance, these alternatives presented may increase the safety of the mine during mining process and for the personnel doing the measurements on the field.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1003-1020
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• 2017

Estimation of groundwater inflow into underground opening is of critical importance for the design and construction of underground structures. Groundwater inflow into a pilot underground storage facility in China was estimated using analytical equations, numerical modeling and field measurement. The applicability of analytical and numerical methods was examined by comparing the estimated and measured results. Field geological investigation indicated that in local scale the high groundwater inflows are associated with the appearance of open joints, fractured zone or dykes induced by shear and/or tensile tectonic stresses. It was found that 8 groundwater inflow spots with high inflow rates account for about 82% of the total rate for the 9 caverns. On the prediction of the magnitude of groundwater inflow rate, it was found that could both (Finite Element Method) FEM and (Discrete Element Method) DEM perform better than analytical equations, due to the fact that in analytical equations simplified assumptions were adopted. However, on the prediction of the spatial distribution estimation of groundwater inflow, both analytical and numerical methods failed to predict at the present state. Nevertheless, numerical simulations would prevail over analytical methods to predict the distribution if more details in the simulations were taken into consideration.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.303-316
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• 2024

Seismic records are composed of mainshock and a series of aftershocks which often result in the incremental damage to underground structures and bring great challenges to the rescue of post-disaster and the repair of post-earthquake. In this paper, the repetition method was used to construct the mainshock-aftershocks sequence which was used as the input ground motion for the analysis of dynamic time history. Based on the Daikai station, the two-dimensional finite element model of soil-station was established to explore the failure process of station under different seismic precautionary intensities, and the concept of incremental damage of station was introduced to quantitatively analyze the damage condition of structure under the action of mainshock and two aftershocks. An arc rubber bearing was proposed for the shock absorption. With the arc rubber bearing, the mode of the traditional column end connection was changed from "fixed connection" to "hinged joint", and the ductility of the structure was significantly improved. The results show that the damage condition of the subway station is closely related to the magnitude of the mainshock. When the magnitude of the mainshock is low, the incremental damage to the structure caused by the subsequent aftershocks is little. When the magnitude of the mainshock is high, the subsequent aftershocks will cause serious incremental damage to the structure, and may even lead to the collapse of the station. The arc rubber bearing can reduce the damage to the station. The results can offer a reference for the seismic design of subway stations under the action of mainshock-aftershocks.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.161-171
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• 2017

Demand for high-grade limestone is increasing, but the production in the domestic mines has been limited due to the lack of systematic development plans and efforts to develop mining technology to improve the recovery ratio, transition to high-cost underground mining due to increasing social awareness of environmental protection, and the smallness of the domestic mining industry, etc. In this study in connection with this issue, an analysis on the recovery change by improvement of mining method was executed. 3D modeling technique was used to construct a 3D model. 3D model includes the geological structure, the limestone ore body and the underground pits and tunnels excavated at the Daepyeong District of Daesung MDI Donghae District. By using the 3D model, measured resources, reserves and ore recovery were evaluated from the results of pilot operation of the room and pillar hybrid mining method, which is a variant of room and pillar mining method. These results were compared with those obtained from the conventional mining method. The ore recovery obtained by hybrid mining method was found to be up to 71.6%, showing about 26%p. increase compared with the case of conventional mining method.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.10-16
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• 2016

Recently, transition from open pit to underground mining in limestone mines is an increasing trend in Korea due to environmental issues such as noise, dust and vibrations caused by crushers and equipment. The severe damages in the surrounding rock mass of underground opening caused by explosive blasting may lead to rock fall hazards or casualties. It is well known that variables which mainly affect blast-induced rock falls in underground mining are: blast vibration level, joint orientation and distribution and shape of the cross sections of underground structures. In this study, UDEC program, which is a DEM code, is used to simulate blast vibration-induced rock fall in underground openings. Variation of joint space, joint angle and joint normal stiffness was considered to investigate the effect of joint characteristics on the blast vibration-induced rock fall in underground opening. Finally, jointed rock mass models considering blast-induced damage zone were examined to simulate the critical blast vibration value which may cause rock falls in underground opening.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.675-683
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• 2015

The room-and-pillar construction method for underground space is adopted from the room-and-pillar mining method which is one of the most popular underground mining method in the world. Drainage system in the room-and-pillar underground construction method can be similar with the concept of single shell in tunnel because additional reinforcement except the TSL (thin spray-on liner) is not applied in the room-and-pillar construction method. That is, to decrease groundwater level and maintain safety in tunnel, the drainage pin hole inside lining (shotcrete) can be used. However, if total amount of outflow in the underground structure is relatively small or groundwater is not detected, such drainage system will not be useful and cause additional construction cost. In this study, outflow of conventional tunnels in South Korea was investigated and the criteria to determine whether the drainage pin hole is effective was suggested. And the guided drainage system was suggested when drainage pin hole was not applied in the room-and-pillar construction method.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.30 no.A
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• pp.17-23
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• 2010

Recently, a large number of open-pit mines are planning to change their mining method to underground types because the environmental concerns and legal regulations are increased with a rise in the standard of living. The K silica mine, which is one of them and located in Kyunggi province, is planning the establishment of a vertical shaft which will be used for ore-pass channel in their new glory hole mining method. This vertical shaft will be designed to join with a horizontal gangway excavated from the ground level. In this new mining system, the excavated ore particles will be stored inside a shaft and transported out with a help of a conveyor belt. Therefore the hang-up of ore particles in a shaft, the control of gate at the bottom of a shaft, the installation of dog-leg at the gate should be investigated identically. In this study, the PFC-2D code which is one of the discrete element numerical methods has been applied to simulate the particle flow mechanism in a shaft, and the optimum mine design has been proposed to maximize the productivity and to minimize the system damage.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.613-623
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• 2013

As Limestone mines have been operated with various environmental, societal and managemental problems depending on their characteristics and developing methods, many great efforts have been applied to solve these problems. Installing the mining facilities underground is one of the successful efforts to keep the sustainable limestone mine development. This effort could reduce these problems. However, unfortunately it made an side effect of constructing a large underground space in mining site. Moreover, this space caused a necessity of various disaster managements for the safety of workers and facilities. This study introduces the priority list of a limestone mining process if there are disasters in underground mining site. This result is coming from the risk assessment and business impact analysis on survey data which were obtained from the miners of that particular limestone mine. According to the result, the highest risk is 'disregard of safety guidelines in crushing & classifier process'. The result also shows the highest priority business, above all things, is 'a pit linked work of in & out process'.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.29-41
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• 2024

The increasing demand for metallic minerals due to global growth and the continued exploitation of near-surface minerals requires safe and efficient ways to mine ores present in deep mines. In deep mines, stresses concentrated around the cavity increase, which can lead to problems such as induced seismicity and rockbursts. In addition, the transfer of energy from blasting to deeply located faults can cause fault slip, which can lead to earthquakes, and controlling these events is key to deep mining methods. In this technical report, we will introduce the Underhand Closed Bench (UCB) mining method, which can control possible accidents and increase productivity when mining in deep mines.