• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.9-16
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• 2016

During the 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu, Japan, earthquake, more than 1,450 underground structures, known as sewer manhole, were uplifted up to 1.5m in Nagaoka and Ojiya city. The uplift damage can be a serious matter because they not only hinder the flow of wastewater systems, as a part of lifeline systems, but also disturb traffic flows. For restoration works, an open-cut investigation of damaged wastewater system was conducted by the Nagaoka city government. The results from the investigation compiled valuable data sets for buried pipeline damage due to earthquakes. In the present study, the factors affecting the uplift amount of the underground structure is investigated by using the data sets which include locations of damaged sections and inclination of pipeline before and after the earthquake and the SPT borehole logs in the affected area. Correlation analysis between the underground structure uplift and the geological settings in the affected area revealed that ground water depth and original subsoil, including thickness of clay layer, SPT N-value and fill thickness are the key parameters for the uplift phenomenon.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2008

To obtain the input data for the design and long-tenn performance assessment of a high-level waste repository, the thermal conductivities of several granite rocks which were taken from the rock cores from the declined borehole were measured. The rock specimens were sampled at the various depths from the surface, and the thermal conductivity was measured under the dry and water-saturated conditions. Under the dry condition, the thermal conductivities of the granite rocks decrease with increasing porosity and range from 2.1 W/mK to 3.1 W/mK. The water-saturated rock samples showed greater thermal conductivities than the dry samples, and the thermal conductivities of the granite rocks range from 2.9 W/mK 3.6 W/mK. The anisotropy effects on the thermal conductivity of granite of the site seem to be insignificant.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.305-317
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• 2019

The RMR and Q-system for characterizing rock mass and drilling core, and for estimating the support and reinforcement measures in mine galleries, tunnels and caverns have been widely used by engineers. SMR has been widely used in the rock mass classification for rock slope, but Q-Slope has been introduced into slopes since 2015. In the last ten years, a modified Q-system called Q-slope has been tested by the many authors for application to the benches in open pit mines and excavated road rock slopes. The results have shown that a simple correlation exists between Q-slope values and the long-term stable and unsupported slope angles. Just as RMR and Q have been used together in a tunnel or underground space and complemented by comparison, Q-Slope can be used in parallel with SMR. This paper introduces how to use Q-Slope which has not been announced in Korea and application examples of Pasir open pit coal mine in Indonesia.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2011

Attention has been focused on geothermal energy as an alternative energy because it is continuously operable without external supply. Most of geothermal anomalies in Korea are related to deep circulation of groundwater through a fracture system in granite area. Therefore it is very important to understand the distribution of the fracture system which is the main channel of ground water. In this research, we constructed the velocity models with a fracture system and the layered sediments, respectively, and generated synthetic data sets with them to verify the presented vertical seismic profiling (VSP) preprocessing scheme. We compared the results from conventional VSP preprocessing flow to those from VSP preprocessing flow considering fracture system. We noticed that the preprocessing flow considering fracture system retains more sufficient signal including down-going wave than conventional preprocessing. In addition, we applied 3D VSP prestack phase screen migration to the preprocessed reversed VSP (RVSP) data from Seokmo Island so that we were able to image fracture structure of the geothermal site in Seokmo Island.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.185-201
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• 2018

Nuclear power plants(NPP) are constructed and operated to ensure safety against natural disasters and man-made disasters in all processes including site selection, site survey, design, construction, and operation. This paper will introduce a series of efforts conducted in Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., to assure the safety of nuclear power plant against earthquakes and other natural hazards. In particular, the present status of the earthquake, fault, and slope safety monitoring system for nuclear power plants is introduced. A earthquake observatory network for the NPP sites has been built up for nuclear safety and providing adequate seismic design standards for NPP sites by monitoring seismicity in and around NPPs since 1999. The Eupcheon Fault Monitoring System, composed of a strainmeter, seismometer, creepmeter, Global Positioning System, and groundwater meter, was installed to assess the safety of the Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant against earthquakes by monitoring the short- and long-term behavioral characteristics of the Eupcheon fault. Through the analysis of measured data, it was verified that the Eupcheon fault is a relatively stable fault that is not affected by earthquakes occurring around the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula. In addition, it was confirmed that the fault monitoring system could be very useful for seismic safety analysis and earthquake prediction study on the fault. K-SLOPE System for systematic slope monitoring was successfully developed for monitoring of the slope at nuclear power plants. Several kinds of monitoring devices including an inclinometer, tiltmeter, tension-wire, and precipitation gauge were installed on the NPP slope. A macro deformation analysis using terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) was performed for overall slope deformation evaluation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.145-155
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• 2000

Orientation data of discontinuities are of paramount importance for rock slope stability studies because they control the possibility of unstable conditions or excessive deformation. Most orientation data are collected by using linear sampling techniques, such as borehole fracture mapping and the detailed scanline method (outcrop mapping). However, these data, acquired by the above linear sampling techniques, are subjected to bias, owing to the orientation of the sampling line. Even though a weighting factor is applied to orientation data in order to reduce this bias, the bias will not be significantly reduced when certain sampling orientations are involved. That is, if the linear sampling orientation nearly parallels the discontinuity orientation, most discontinuities orientation data which are parallel to sampling line will be excluded from the survey result. This phenomenon can cause serious misinterpretation of discontinuity orientation data because critical information is omitted. In the case study, orientation data collected by using the borehole fracture mapping method (vertical scanline) were compared to those based on orientation data from the detailed scanline method (horizontal scanline). Differences in results for the two procedures revealed a concern that a representative orientation of discontinuities was not accomplished. Equal-area, polar stereo nets were used to determine the distribution of dip angles and to compare the data distribution fur the borehole method versus those for the scanline method.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.15 no.2 s.42
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• pp.213-227
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• 2005

This study aims to assess the problems with investigation method and to suggest the complementary solutions by comparing the predicted data from surface investigation with the outcome data from underground cavern. In the study area, one(NE-1) of 6 fracture zones predicted during the surface investigation was only confirmed in underground caverns. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the confidence level for prediction. In this study, the fracture classification criteria was quantitatively suggested on the basis of the BHTV images of NE-1 fracture zone. The major orientation of background fractures in rock mass was changed at the depth of the storage cavern, the length and intensity were decreased. These characteristics result in the deviation of predieted predicted fracture properties and generate the investigation bias depending on the bore hole directions and investigated scales. The evaluation of hydraulic connectivity in the surface investigation stage needs to be analyze by the groundwater pressures and hydrochemical properties from the monitoring bore hole(s) equipped with a double completion or multi-packer system during the test bore hole is pumping or injecting. The hydraulic conductivities in geometric mean measured in the underground caverns are 2-3 times lower than those from the surface and furthermore the horizontal hydraulic conductivity in geometric mean is six times lower than the vertical one. To improve confidence level of the hydraulic conductivity, the orientation of test hole should be considered during the analysis of the hydraulic conductivity and the methodology of hydro-testing and interpretation should be based on the characteristics of rock mass and investigation purposes.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2002

This study aims to establish the methodology for design of an optimum water curtain system of the unlined underground oil storage cavern satisfying the requirements of hydrodynamic performance in a volcanic terrain of the south coastal area. For the optimum water curtain system in the storage facility, the general characteristics of groundwater flow system in the site are quantitatively described, i.e. distribution of hydraulic gradients, groundwater inflow rate into the storage caverns, and hydrogeologic influence area of the cavern. In this study, numerical models such as MODFLOW, FracMan/MAFIC and CONNECTFLOW are used for calculating the hydrogeological stability parameters. The design of a horizontal water curtain system requires considering the distance between water curtain and storage cavern, spacing of the water curtain boreholes, and injection pressure. From the numerical simulations at different scales, the optimum water curtain systems satisfying the containment criteria are obtained. The inflow rates into storage caverns estimated by a continuum model ranged from about 120 m$^3$/day during the operation stage to 130~140m$^3$/day during the construction stage, whereas the inflow rates by a fracture network model are 80~175m$^3$/day. The excavation works in the site will generate the excessive decline of groundwater level in a main fracture zone adjacent to the cavern. Therefore, the vertical water curtain system is necessary for sustaining the safe groundwater level in the fracture zone.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.255-274
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• 2014

The target of this study is large scale rock slope collapsed by around 7 pm on August, 2012, which is located at ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$ limestone quarries of Gangneung city, Gangwondo. The slope prior to the collapse is formed as the height of about 200 m and the average inclination of $45^{\circ}$. The estimated amount of the collapse is about $1,500,000m^3$ with respect to the slope after the collapse. Geotechnical and field investigations such as boring, geophysical prospecting, surface geological survey, geological lineaments, borehole imaging, metric 3D imaging, experimental and field test, mining work by year, and daily rainfall were performed to find the cause of rock slope failure. Various analyzes using slope mass rating, stereonet projection, limit equilibrium method, continuum and non-continuum model were conducted to check of the stability of the slope. It is expected that the cause of slope failure from the results of various analysis and survey is due to the combined factors such as topography, rainfall, rock type and quality, discontinuities, geo-structural characteristics as the limestone cavity and fault zones, but the failure of slope in case of the analysis without the limestone cavity is not occurred. Safe factor of 0.66 was obtained from continuum analysis of the slope considering the limestone cavity, so the ultimate causes of slope failure is considered to be due to the influence of limestone cavity developed along fault zone.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.216-230
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• 2014

Based on the interpretation of 3D seismic profiles acquired in the northwestern area of the Ulleung Basin, East Sea, the shallow sediments consist of five seismic units separated by regional reflectors. An anticline is present in the study area that documents activity of many faults. Bottom simulating reflectors are characterized by high RMS amplitude. Acoustic blanking with low RMS amplitude is distinctively recognized in the gas hydrate stability zone. Seismic attribute analysis shows that if gas hydrates are underlain by free gas, the high reflection strength and the low instantaneous frequency are displayed below the boundary between them. Whereas, if not, the reflection strength is low and instantaneous frequency is high continuously below the gas hydrate zone. Based on the spectral decomposition of the bottom simulating reflector, the high envelope at the specific high frequency range indicates the generation of the tuning effect due to the lower free gas content. Four models for the occurrence of the gas hydrate are suggested considering the slope of sedimentary layers as well as the presence of gas hydrate or free gas.