• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.161-174
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• 2018

$CO_2$ storage site for small-scale demonstration has been investigated in Yeongil Bay, Pohang, SE Korea, using seismic survey and exploration well data. We found a potential storage formation consisting mainly of conglomerate and sandstone. The storage formation unconformably overlies volcanic basement rocks that are located in a depth from 650 to 950 m (below sea level). The depth of the storage formation is suitable for injecting supercritical $CO_2$ in the Pohang Basin. The average thickness of the storage formation is about 123 m, which possibly provides sufficient capacity at the level of small-scale storage demonstration. The overlying fine-grained deposits consist mainly of marine hemipelagic muds and interlayered turbidite sands. The overlying formation is considered as a good seal rock that is over 600 m thick and widely distributed in the onshore and offshore portions of the basin. NNE-trending faults found in the study area likely formed at basement level, probably not continue to seafloor. Such faults are interpreted as syndepositional faults involved to the basin initiation. This study reveals that the offshore area of the Pohang Basin contains deep geological formations suitable for small-scale $CO_2$ storage demonstration.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.230-242
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• 2017

Seismic velocities measured from in-situ tests (n=177) and through rock core samples (n=1,035) are reviewed in light of construction standards, widely used standards as a first-hand approximation of rock classification solely based on seismic velocities. In-situ down hole tests and refraction survey for soft rocks showed seismic velocities of 1,400~2,900 m/s which is faster than those specified in construction standards. For moderate~ hard rocks, in-situ down hole tests and refraction survey showed 2,300~3,800 m/s which roughly corresponds with the range specified in the construction standards. A similar trend is also observed for seismic velocities measured from rock core samples. The observed differences between construction standards and seismic velocities can be explained in two ways. If construction standards are correct the observed differences may be explained with seismic velocities affected by underlying fast velocities and also possibly with selection of intact cores for velocity measurement. Alternatively, construction standards may have intrinsic problems, namely artificial discrete boundaries between soft rocks and moderate rocks, application of foreign standards without consideration of geologic setting and lack of independent verification steps. Therefore, we suggest a carefully designed verification studies from a test site. We also suggest that care must be exercised when applying construction standards for the interpretation and accessment of rock mass properties.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.2 s.55
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• pp.119-128
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• 2005

Although the evaluation of the mechanical properties and behavior of jointed rock masses is very important for the design of tunnel and underground openings, it has always been considered the most difficult problem. One of the difficulties in describing the rock mass behavior is the selection of the appropriate constitutive model. This limitation may be overcome with the progress in discrete element software such as PFC, which does not need the user to prescribe a constitutive model for rock mass. In this paper, a 30\;m\;\times\;30\;m\;\times\;30\;m m jointed rock mass of road tunnel site was analyzed. h discrete fracture network was developed from the joint geometry obtained from core logging and surface survey. Using the discontinuities geometry from the DFN model, PFC simulations were carried out, starting with the intact rock and systematically adding the joints and the stress-strain response was recorded for each case. With the stress-strain response curves, the mechanical properties of jointed rock masses were determined. As expected, the presence of joints had a pronounced effect on mechanical properties of the rock mass. More importantly, getting the mechanical response of the PFC model doesn't require a user specified constitutive model.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.727-740
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• 2018

The media in the undersaturated zone is defined as the uppermost layer of the water table at which the groundwater is unsaturated or saturated discontinuously. The properties of the unsaturated zone can affect the reduction of contaminants that flow from the lower part of soil to the water table. In recent, there have been problems in evaluating groundwater contaminations vulnerability because weighted value for permeability is given, regardless of anisotropy and heterogeneity in the unsaturated media. Geological media have various ranges of permeability. When applying the weighted value, representative of permeability for grain sizes standardized, to construction of contamination vulnerability, it will produce more exaggerated result than the case that considers unsaturated geological properties. In this study, we performed laboratory column tests considering two sets of the unsaturated layers in order to investigate the permeability in anisotropic unsaturated zone with anisotropy. On the basis of the tests, average permeability coefficients were calculated considering the properties of unsaturated media obtained from drill cores in the field. The final contamination vulnerability map constructed shows that the contamination vulnerability map applying the properties of geological media of the unsaturated zone coincides much better with the results measured in the field, compared to the case of contamination vulnerability considering the weighted value in the unsaturated zone.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.381-393
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• 2021

Physical, mechanical, hydraulic, and geophysical tests were applied to validate methods of inspecting the effectiveness of grouting on an agricultural reservoir dam. Data obtained from series of in situ and laboratory tests considered four stages: before grouting; during grouting; immediately after grouting; and after aging the grouting for 28 days. The results of SPT and triaxial tests, including the unit weight, compressive strength, friction angle, cohesion, and N-value, indicated the extent of ground improvement with respect to grout injection. However, they sometimes contained errors caused by ground heterogeneity. Hydraulic conductivity obtained from in situ variable head permeability testing is most suitable for identifying the effectiveness of grouting because the impermeability of the ground increased immediately after grouting. Electric resistivity surveying is useful for finding a saturated zone and a seepage pathway, and multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) is suitable for analyzing the effectiveness of grouting, as elastic velocity increases distinctly after grouting injection. MASW also allows calculation from the P- and S- wave velocities of dynamic properties (e.g., dynamic elastic modulus and dynamic Poisson's ratio), which can be used in the seismic design of dam structures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1994.07a
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• pp.184-215
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• 1994

The Hydrogeologic data of 455 water wells comprising geologic and aquifer test were analyzed to determine hydrogeoloic characteristics of Cheju island. The groundwater of Cheju island is occurred in unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits interbedded in highly jointed basaltic and andesic rocks as high level, basal and parabasal types order unconfined condition. The average transmissivity and specific yield of the aquifer are at about 29,300m$^2$/day and 0.12 respectively. The total storage of groundwater is estimated about 44 billion cubic meters(m$^3$). Average annual precipitation is about 3390 million m$^3$ among which average recharge amount is estimated 1494 million m$^3$ equivalent 44.1% of annual precipitation with 638 million m$^3$ of runoff and 1256 million m$^3$ of evapotranspiration. Based on groundwater budget analysis, the sustainable yield is about 620 million m$^3$(41% of annual recharge)and rest of it is discharging into the sea. The geologic logs of recently drilled thermal water wens indicate that very low-permeable marine sediments(Sehwa-ri formation) composed of loosely cemented sandy sat derived from mainly volcanic ashes, at the 1st stage volcanic activity of the area was situated at the 120$\pm$68m below sea level. And also the other low-permeable sedimentary rock called Segipo-formation which is deemed younger than former marine sediment is occured at the area covering north-west and western part of Cheju at the $\pm$70m below sea level. If these impermeable beds are distributed as a basal formation of fresh water zone of Cheju, most of groundwater in Cheju will be para-basal type. These formations will be one of the most important hydrogeologic boundary and groundwater occurences in the area.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.29-46
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• 2004

It is important to identify geometries of fracture that act as a conduit of fluid flow for characterization of ground water flow in fractured rock. Fracture geometries control hydraulic conductivity and stream lines in a rock mass. However, we have difficulties to acquire whole geometric data of fractures in a field scale because of discontinuous distribution of outcrops and impossibility of continuous collecting of subsurface data. Therefore, it is needed to develop a method to describe whole feature of a target fracture geometry. This study suggests a new approach to develop a method to characterize on the whole feature of a target fracture geometry based on the Fourier transform. After sampling of specimens along a target fracture from borehole cores, effective frequencies among roughness components were selected by the Fourier transform on each specimen. Then, the selected effective frequencies were averaged on each frequency. Because the averaged spectrum includes all the frequency profiles of each specimen, it shows the representative components of the fracture roughness of the target fracture. The inverse Fourier transform is conducted to reconstruct an averaged whole roughness feature after low pass filtering. The reconstructed roughness feature also shows the representative roughness of the target subsurface fracture including the geometrical characteristics of each specimen. It also means that overall roughness feature by scaling up of a fracture. In order to identify the characteristics of permeability coefficients along the target fracture, fracture models were constructed based on the reconstructed roughness feature. The computation of permeability coefficient was performed by the homogenization analysis that can calculate accurate permeability coefficients with full consideration of fracture geometry. The results show a range between $10^{-4}{\;}and{\;}10^{-3}{\;}cm/sec$, indicating reasonable values of permeability coefficient along a large fracture. This approach will be effectively applied to the analysis of permeability characteristics along a large fracture as well as identification of the whole feature of a fracture in a field scale.