• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.1 s.66
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• pp.43-55
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• 2007

An underground research tunnel, KURT, was constructed at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, for various in situ validation experiments related to the development of a high-level radioactive waste disposal system. KURT, which has length of 255 m (access tunnel 180 m and research modules 75 m) and size of $6m{\times}6m$ was excavated in a cryatalline rock mass. In the KURT project, different rock mechanics studies had been carried out during the concept design, site characterization, detailed design, and construction stages. From the geophysical survey, borehole investigation, and rock property tests in laboratory and in situ, the rock and rock mass properties required for the mechanicsl stability analysis of KURT could be achieved and used for the input parameters of computer simulations. In this paper, important results from the rock mechanics studies at KURT and the three-dimensional mechanical stability analysis will be introduced.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2015

Gas hydrate is a solid substance composed of natural gas constrained in water molecules under low temperature and high pressure conditions. The existence of hydrates has been reported to be world-widely distributed, mainly at permafrost and deep ocean floor. Test productions of small amount of natural gas from the on-shore permafrost have been accomplished in U.S.A and Canada, but, world-first and the only production case from off-shore hydrate bearing sediments was in Nankai trough, Japan. In this study, we introduce key technologies in gas production from hydrates by analyzing the Japanese off-shore gas production project in Nankai trough in terms of depressurization- induced dissociation so as to utilize planned domestic gas production test in Ulleung basin.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.39-46
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• 2007

Many industrialized countries of the world have many problems about the reuse of waste landfill area because the increase of terminated waste disposal landfill. Especially, the effective use of the terminated waste disposal landfill nearby the urban area has been demanded, because of the lack of the usable land. However, the reuse of terminated waste disposal landfill site is needed an adequate stabilization of ground for increasing the bearing capacity and reduce the allowable settlement for the given structure. This study is to evaluate the applicability of geosynthetics for the increment of bearing capacity of solid waste landfill ground. The in-situ cyclic plate loading tests were performed to determine the dynamic and static behaviors of reinforced ground with geosynthetics. Four series of test were conducted with variations of geosynthetics, number of geogrid layer. Based on the cyclic plate load test results, the bearing capacity ratio, subgrade modulus of ground, and the elastic rebound ratio were determined.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.273-281
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• 2014

In most current seismic design codes, design earthquake ground motions are defined by a reference spectrum, based on bedrock and site amplification factors that quantify the geotechnical dynamic conditions. Earthquake engineering bedrock is the fundamental geotechnical formation where the seismic waves are attenuated without amplification. To better define bedrock in an earthquake engineering context, shear wave velocity ($V_S$ ) data obtained from in-situ seismic tests were examined for several rock strata in Korea; these data were categorized by borehole drilling investigations. The $V_S$ values for most soft rock data in Korea are > 750 m/s, which is the threshold $V_S$ value for identifying engineering bedrock from a strong motion station. Conversely, VS values are < 750 m/s for 60% of $V_S$ data in weathered rock in Korea. Thus, the soft (or harder) rock strata below the weathered rock layer in Korea can be regarded as earthquake engineering bedrock.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.333-344
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• 2016

In this study, the efficiency of natural attenuation was evaluated through the hydrogeological characteristics such as monitoring and analyses, tracer tests, chemical composition analysis of the groundwater at a military site contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbon in korea. Also, based on the results, the natural attenuation rate by distance and the expressed biodegradation capacity(EBC) was evaluated. The regression slope of -0.0248($K/V_x$) and bulk attenuation rate of $1.7{\times}10^{-3}/day$ were calculated respectively. The range of total expressed biodegradation capacity(EBC) of BTEX was shown from 9.1 mg/L to 10.0 mg/L(average 9.7 mg/L). It was confirmed that the denitrification which was expressed about 63.6% in the total EBC is the largest influence redox process. Consequently, the biodegradation capacity is considered to be sufficient for remediation in the BTEX average concentration of 1.326 mg/L.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.199-208
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• 2012

To develop site characterization technologies for a radioactive waste disposal research in KAERI, the geological and hydrogeological investigations have been carried out since 1997. In 2006, the KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) was constructed to study a solute migration, a microbiology and an engineered barrier system as well as deeply to understand geological environments in in-situ condition. This study is performed as one of the site characterization works around KURT. Several investigations such as a lineament analysis, a borehole/tunnel survey, a geophyscial survey and logging in borehole, were used to construct the geological model. As a result, the geological model is constructed, which includes the lithological model and geo-structural model in this study. Moreover, from the results of the in-situ hydraulic tests, the hydrogeological properties of elements in geological model were evaluated.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.597-608
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• 2014

It is widely assumed that climate change and other anthropogenically driven processes are having a serious impact on coastal environments. One such impact is saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers, which has resulted in the loss of groundwater resources. The pattern of saltwater intrusion is strongly dependent on regional hydrogeological characteristics. This study reviews recent qualitative and quantitative research into this problem, and considers relevant case studies. In addition, the characteristics of the aquifers from two representative volcanic islands (Jeju Island, Korea and Oahu Island, USA) are compared. The fundamental theory of density-dependent flow used to model saltwater intrusion processes and the programs that are widely used to simulate saltwater intrusion based on density-driven problems are also investigated. It is expected that the knowledge gained from this review of previous studies can be used to help improve groundwater management practices in Korea and also to inform future interdisciplinary studies.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.33-40
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• 2008

This paper describes the performance of ground improvement project using prefabricated vertical drains of condition, in which approximately 10m dredged fill overlies original soft foundation layer in the coastal area composed of soft marine clay with high water content and high compressibility. From field monitoring results, excessive ground settlement compared with predicted settlement in design stage developed during the following one year. In order to predict the final consolidation behavior, recalculation of consolidation settlements and back analysis using observed settlements were conducted. Field monitoring results of surface settlements were evaluated, and then corrected because large shear deformation occurred by construction events in the early stages of consolidation. To predict the consolidation behavior, material functions and in-situ conditions from laboratory consolidation test were re-analyzed. Using these results, height of additional embankment is estimated to satisfy residual settlement limit and maintain an adequate ground elevation. The recalculated time-settlement curve has been compared with field monitoring results after additional surcharge was applied. It might be used for verification of recalculated results.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.472-482
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• 2023

The grid-type or room-and-pillar method is applied for the purpose of mining horizontally buried minerals. In this study, design and pilot test were performed to apply the room-and-pillar method which uses natural rock as a rock pillar to the construction of underground space. The area where the pilot test was conducted was in stone mine and had good rock conditions with an appropriate depth (about 30 m) to apply the pilot test. The pilot test site was selected by reviewing accessibility and ground conditions and then site construction was performed through detailed ground investigation and design. The pilot test was designed with a column shape of 8×8 m and a cross-section of 8×12 m. The blasting pattern was determined through test blasting at the site, and blasting of 3 m excavation with 89 holes was performed. Through field observations, the average width of 12.5 m and the average height of 8.3 m were measured. Therefore, it is possible to proceed similar to the cross-sectional shape considered in the design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.03b
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• pp.677-684
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• 2000

Piezocone test as well as Dilatometer tests are used worldwide to evaluate the engineering properties of clay soils. The common strong point of the two tests is that they can estimate, by the identical test equipment, various properties of soils, which are the unit weight of soils of OCR, K$\sub$o/, undrained shear strength(s$\sub$u/), coefficient of consolidation(c$\sub$h/) and soil classification etc,. A series of the two types of field tests are performed in this study on marine clays with low plasticity at Inchon International Airport construction site to estimate various properties of the soils such as s$\sub$u/, OCR, and c$\sub$h/, which are then compared each other as well as with the results of reference tests. The comparisons show that the way of interpretation is the most critical factor in obtaining confidential results for a certain engineering property for both tests.