• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.184-193
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• 1998

In order to dispose radioactive wastes safely, it is needed to understand the mechanical, thermal, fluid behavior of rockmass and physico-chemical interactions between rockmass and water. Also, the knowledge about mechanical and hydraulic properties of rocks is required to predict and to model many conditions of geological structure, underground in-situ stress, folding, hot water interaction, intrusion of magma, plate tectonics etc. This study is based on researches about rock mechanics issues associated with a waste disposal in deep rockmass. This paper includes the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of rocks in varying temperature conditions, thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling analysis in rock mass and deformation behavior of discontinuous rocks. The mechanical properties were measured with Interaken rock mechanics testing systems and hydraulic properties were measured with transient pulse permeability measuring systems. In all results, rock properties were sensitive to temperature variation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.188-202
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• 2004

If an underground research facility for the validation of disposal concept is constructed in KAERI, it is expected to have a thick weathered zone and varying surface topology. In this study, the influence of different geological conditions, tunnel slope, tunnel size, and sequential excavation is investigated by 3D mechanical analysis using FLAC3D. Around the tunnel, it is not expected to develop any plastic zone and the maximum stress might be as high as 5 ㎫. The maximum compressive stress will be developed at about 20 m to e dead end of the tunnel. There is no difference on stress and displacement distributions between the cases with and without sequential excavation. It is expected to have stress release in the roof and floor after the excavation of the tunnel. There is no significant influence of weathered zone size, tunnel size, and tunnel slope on the stress and displacement distributions. The modeling for the intersection shows the minimum factor of safety is above 3, when the in situ stress ratio K is 3. From the study, it was possible to demonstrate that the small scale disposal research tunnel in KAERI will be mechanically stable.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2009

An excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is created by fracturing, excavation or stress redistribution of tunnels. In this zone the mechanical and hydraulic properties of rock are changed, which makes additional cracks and serves as a dominant pathway of groundwater flow. In this study, an assessment on an EDZ size was practiced by the measurement of the deformation modulus at the KAERI underground research tunnel (KURT), and the information was applied to the modelling analysis using FLAC2D software. The EDZ at KURT fell into the range of 0.6~1.8m and the deformation moduli of the EDZ generally correspond to about 40% of intact rock mass. With a consideration of the EDZ in numerical analysis, tunnel displacements increased by about 65% and the maximum principal stress decreased to 58% from the case without EDZ. The plastic zone of the tunnel was enlarged to the crown and invert zones of the tunnel within the range of the length of rock bolts. About 2% of the total tunnel displacement with EDZ was suppressed by the KURT support system. It is anticipated that the investigation of an EDZ can be used as an important and fundamental research for validating the overall performance of a high level waste disposal system.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.141-150
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• 2017

Geosynthetics are generally utilized to restrain the leakage of leachate and other contaminants during the construction of offshore waste landfill. Therefore, geosynthetic-soil interface is formed inevitably. In this study, 2 dimensional numerical analysis is performed to assess the dynamic behaviour of the offshore waste landfill including geosynthetic-soil interface. Offshore waste landfill can be divided into rubble mound revetment and retaining wall types and analyzed on each type. Effective stress analysis is conducted to consider the variation of pore water pressure and axial force and shear displacement of the interface are compared based on the characteristics of seismic frequency. Consequently, retaining wall type demonstrates more stable behavior against liquefaction potential and favorable forces and shear displacement.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2012

Since a seismic exceeding design load can result in exposing radioactive material during disposal process of radioactive wastes, the repository should be designed with enough seismic margin. In this paper, a seismic fragility analysis was performed to evaluate the seismic capacity of surface facility structures. According to the analysis results, since inspection & store facility and radioactive waste facility have a rectangle geometry, the seismic capacity was differently presented about 23%~43% according to the axis of structures. The HCLPF capacity of inspection & store facility and radioactive waste facility was 0.52g and 0.93g, respectively. And it was observed that seismic capacity of radioactive waste facility was similar to that of a containment for nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.339-345
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• 2021

Finite element analysis of the silo type underground opening for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) disposal facilities in Korea is presented in this study. The silo wall is circular and the roof is made up of domes. The silo wall is 25 meters in diameter, 35 meters in height, and the dome is 30 meters in diameter and 17.4 meters in height, and it is located at -80 meters to -130 meters at sea level. Although six silos have been constructed in the first stage and are in operation, only one silo was considered in this study. The two-dimensional axial symmetric finite element model, as well as the three-dimensional finite element model were made using the computer program SMAP-3D. Generalized Hoek and Brown Model was used for the numerical analyses. The finite element analysis of the silo type underground opening was carried out under various lateral pressure coefficients (defined as ratio of average horizontal to vertical in-situ stress), and the numerical results of these analyses were examined.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2022

In this report, new standard, published by Japanese Geotechnical Society, on in-situ stress measurements by hydraulic fracturing was reviewed. In the standard, modification was made for the calculation of fracture re-opening pressure in consideration of fracture surface roughness and residual aperture. The standard also presents how much the system compliance influences the estimation of the fracture re-opening pressure and subsequent in-situ stresses. It is shown that the stiffer the rock mass is, the system compliance should be sufficiently small enough so as to obtain in-situ stress measurement with higher confidence.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.267-282
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• 2024

This study aims to develop a wireless communication system for long-term monitoring of high-level radioactive waste disposal facilities. Conventional wired sensors can lead to a deterioration in buffer quality and management difficulties due to the use of cables for power supply and data transmission. This study proposes the adoption of a wireless communication system and compares the received signal strengths within bentonite using modules such as WiFi, ZigBee, and LoRa. Increases in dry density of bentonite and distance between transceivers led to reduced received signal strength. Additionally, using the low-frequency band exhibited less signal attenuation. Based on these findings, a conceptual design for a wireless network-based THM integrated sensor system was proposed. Results of this study can be used as foundational data for long-term monitoring of disposal facility.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-114
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• 2004

Mineralogical characteristics of fracture-filling minerals from deep borehole in the Yuseong area were studied for the radioactive waste disposal project. There are many fracture zones in the deep drill holes of the Yuseong granite, which was locally affected by the hydrothermal alteration. According to the results of hole rock analysis of drill core samples, $SiO_2$ contents are distinctly decreased, whereas $Al_2$$O_3$ and CaO contents and L.O.I. values are increased in the -90 m∼-130 m and -230 m∼-250 m zone, which is related to the formations of filling minerals. Fracture-filling minerals mainly consist of zeolite minerals (laumontite and heulandite), calcite, illite ($2M_1$ and 1Md polytypes), chlorite, epidote and kaolinite. The relative frequency of occurrence among the fracture-filling minerals is calcite zeolite mineral > illite > epidote chlorite kaolinite. Judging from the SEM observation and EPMA analysis, there is no systematic change in the texture and chemical composition of the fracture-filling minerals with depth. In the study area, low temperature hydrothermal alteration was overlapped with water-rock interactions for a long geological time through the fracture zone developed in the granite body. Therefore the further study on the origin and paragenesis of the fracture-filling minerals are required.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.259-262
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• 2006

본 연구는 지하처분연구시설(URT : Underground Research Tunnel)시설 건설공사와 관련하여 굴착 후의 지하수유동체계 변화를 예측하기 위하여 수행되었다. 지하수유동체계 모사를 위해 사용된 모델은 연속체 매질 개념의 Visual Modflow이며, URT 주변의 시추공에서 조사된 자료를 초기 입력자료로 이용하였다. 1단계 터널굴착 후에 계측된 지하수위 및 터널 내 지하수 유입량을 토대로 모델교정을 수행하였고, 교정된 모델을 이용하여 2단계 터널굴착 후의 지하수유동체계를 예측하였다. 1단계 굴착 후 약 4.3m의 수위강하가 발생한 KP-2번공은 2단계 굴착 후에는 약 0.05m의 수위강하가 예측되었다. 또한 2단계 굴착 후의 지하수위는 터널 입구를 기준으로 약 108m지점부터 터널 종점부 175m까지는 터널 상부에 분포하며, 종점부 175m지점에서는 지하수위가 터널 천장(roof)부로부터 약 12.7m 상부에 위치하는 것으로 예측되었다. 지하수위의 강하범위는 터널 중심부로부터 반경 약 300m까지 발생되는 것으로 예측되었고, 예상 지하수 유입량은 24.7ton/day로 1단계 공사 후보다. 약 2.7ton/day 증가하며, 공동굴착 전 터널 중심부의 지하수가 지표까지 도달하는 시간은 약 39.8년이 소요되는 것으로 나타났다.