• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.164-173
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• 2011

In the present study, the stability of a compressed air energy storage cavern was numerically assessed by concrete plug shapes in order to investigate the optimal shape of concrete plug. The concrete plugs were cylindrical, embedded cylindrical, tapered, and wedged in shape. The stability assessment was carried out based on factor of safety through a strength reduction method and a volume ratio which refers to the ratio of the volume of yield regions in concrete induced by internal pressure to all concrete volume. The results from the present study indicated that the embedded cylindrical and taper shaped plugs were mechanically more stable than the cylindrical and wedge shaped plugs. However, from a comparison of stress distributions in rock mass between the embedded cylindrical and taper shaped plugs, the taper shaped plug was found to be more optimal than the embedded cylindrical plug, since the embedded cylindrical plug caused more stress concentration in the interface between the plug and rock mass than the taper shaped plug.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.459-468
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• 2019

The stability and safety of concrete plug structure of diversion tunnel is crucial for the impoundment of upstream reservoir in hydropower projects. The ongoing Wudongde hydropower plant in China plans to adopt straight column plugs and curved column plugs to replace the traditional expanded wedge-shaped plugs. The performance of the proposed new plug structures under high water head is then a critical issue and attracts the attentions of engineers. This paper firstly studied the joint bearing mechanism of plug and surrounding rock mass and found that the quality and mechanical properties of the interfaces among plug concrete, shotcrete, and surrounding rock mass play a key role in the performance of plug structures. By performing geophysical and mechanical experiments, the contact state and the mechanical parameters of the interfaces were analyzed in detail and provide numerical analysis with rational input parameters. The safety evaluation is carried out through numerical calculation of plug stability under both construction and operation period. The results indicate that the allowable water head acting on columnar plugs is 3.1 to 7.4 times of the designed water head. So the stability of the new plug structure meets the design code requirement. Based on above findings, it is concluded that for the studied project, it is feasible to adopt columnar plugs to replace the traditional expanded wedge-shaped plugs. It is hoped that this study can provide reference for other projects with similar engineering background and problems.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.446-454
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• 2010

CAES-G/T (Compressed Air Energy Storage - Gas Turbine) power generation is a likely option for the buffer facility stabilizing the fluctuation of the renewable powers, such as wind and solar powers. Considering the geological conditions, the underground CAES facility is most probable if the CAES-G/T generation is planed in Korea. In this kind of facility, a concrete plug is installed to seal the compressed air in the container, so that the selection of the shape and dimension of concrete plug could be a critical design factor. The stability evaluation of two types of plug was carried out by investigating the distribution of the factor of safety in the plugs and the distribution of contact pressure over the contact surface. The analysis result shows that the taper-shaped plug is more structurally stable than the wedge-shaped plug for the given geological condition. Possible separation of the rock-concrete interface around the spring line of the wedge-shaped plug is anticipated, which means the possible leakage of compressed air through the side wall and also means the poor mobilization of frictional resistance on that area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.93-103
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• 2000

The concrete plug in an underground cavern prevents the stored product (oil, gas, etc) from leaking and the excessive show of underground water, so it plays an important role in construction and operation of the storage cavern. Additionally, it should maintain its stability under every possible loading condition. Once the plug is constructed, the cavern is isolated from the external access. Therefore, mechanical and hydraulic consideration should be made in construction to fulfill its function. Therefore, in this study, numerical analyses were conducted to study the optimal shape and thickness of the plug with respect to the various conditions of installation depth, the shape of the plug, in-situ stress ratio (K), the condition of rock-plug interface, and the effect of Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ). This paper also presents the effect of slot depth on the hydraulic behavior of the plug. These analyses were carried out by using the 2-dimensional finite difference code, rm FLAC, and the 3D code, m FLA $C^{3D}$./.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.344-354
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• 2000

The concrete plug in an underground cavern prevents the stored product (oil, gas, etc) from leaking and the excessive inflow of underground water, so it plays an important role in construction and operation of the storage cavern. Additionally, it should maintain its stability under every possible loading condition. Once the plug is constructed, the cavern is isolated from the external access. Therefore, mechanical and hydraulic consideration should be made in construction to fulfill its function. Therefore, in this study, numerical analyses were conducted to study the optimal shape and thickness of the plug with respect to the various conditions of installation depth, the shape of the plug, in-situ stress ratio (K), the condition of rock-plug interface, and the effect of Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ). This paper also presents the effect of slot depth on the hydraulic behavior of the plug. These analyses were carried out by using the 2-dimensional finite difference code, rm FLAC, and the 3D code, rm FLAC$\^$3D/.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.719-725
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• 2010

The analysis and experimental program of reinforced concrete (RC) structures for resistance against such extreme loads as earthquake, blast, and impact have been carried by many researchers and designers. Under the extreme loads, a large amount of energy is suddenly exerted to the structure, hence if the structure fails to absorb the impact energy, catastrophic collapse may occur. To prevent catastrophic collapse of structures, reinforced concrete must have adeguate toughness or it needs to be strengthened. The FRP strengthening method and SFRC are studied widely in resistance of impact load because of their high energy absorption capacity. In this study, drop weight impact tests were implemented to evaluate the impact resistance of SFRC and FRP strengthened RC beam while the total steel fiber volume fractions was fixed at 0.75% carbon FRP flexural strengthened RC beams. Futhermore, to prevent the shear-plug cracks when the impact load strikes the beams, additional FRP shear strengthening method are applied. The experimental, results showed that the FRP strengthened RC SFRC beams has high resistance of shear-plug cracks and crack width and SFRC has high resistance of concrete spalling failure compared to normal RC beams. The FRP flexural and shear strengthening RC beams has weakness in the spalling failure because the impact load concentrated the concrete face which is not strengthened with FRP sheets.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.645-655
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• 2017

To determine the seismic applicability of a long-span railway concrete upper-deck arch bridge with concrete-filled steel-tube (CFST) rigid skeleton ribs, some fundamental principles and seismic approaches for long-span bridges are investigated to update the design methods in the current Code for Seismic Design of Railway Engineering of China. Ductile and mixed isolation design are investigated respectively to compare the structural seismic performances. The flexural moment and plastic rotation demands and capacities are quantified to assess the seismic status of the ductile components. A kind of triple friction pendulum (TFP) system and lead-plug rubber bearing are applied simultaneously to regularize the structural seismic demands. The numerical analysis shows that the current ductile layout with continuous rigid frame approaching spans should be strengthened to satisfy the demands of rare earthquakes. However, the mixed isolation design embodies excellent seismic performances for the continuous girder approaching span of this railway arch bridge.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.455-462
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• 2016

This experimental study aims to evaluate the impact performance of UHPC exterior panels through high velocity impact tests. The impact performance of UHPC was compared with that of granite in terms of panel thickness, and strain histories were recoded on the rear face of panel specimens. The UHPC turned out to be a good exterior facade material, because the appearance of UHPC is natural enough and impact performance was superior to granite. After colliding, compression pulse reached to the rear face but that pulse was reflected in tension pulse with respect to the free point outside the rear face of the panel. This tension pulse caused the scabbing from the rear side, as the strain histories on the rear face showed three different regions as compression region, steady region and tension region. The shear plug deformation by shear force also was one of the primary reasons for the scabbing based on the observation. Therefore, the scabbing seemed to be affected by both tension and shear forces.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.401-413
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• 2019

The concept of base isolation for equipment is well known. Its application in buildings and structures is rather challenging. Introduction of horizontal flexibility at the base helps in proper energy dissipation at the base level thus reducing the seismic demand of the super structure to be considered during design. The present study shows the results of a series of numerical simulation studies on seismic responses of secondary system (SS) housed in non-isolated and base-isolated primary structures (PS) including equipment-structure interactions. For this study the primary structure consists of two similar single bay three-store reinforced cement concrete (RCC) Frame building, one non-isolated with conventional foundation and another base isolated with Lead plug bearings (LPB) constructed at IIT Guwahati, while the secondary system is modeled as a steel frame. Time period of the base isolated building is higher than the fixed building. Due to the presence of isolator, Acceleration response is significantly reduced in both (X and Y) direction of Building. It have been found that when compared to fixed base building, the base isolated building gives better performance in high seismic prone areas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.759-765
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• 2011

In this study, in order to investigate the effects of wall roughness on the hydraulic characteristics of chlorine contactor, CFD simulation and tracer tests were conducted for both of reactors whose walls are made of concrete and lined with PE(Poly Ethylene). In the case of walls contacted with water being lined with PE (relatively lower roughness), the flow within reactor is closer to plug flow than that in the case of concrete walls (relatively higher roughness). Especially, the longer tail of C-curve from the results of transient CFD simulation can tell that Morill index in the case concrete walls is much higher than that in the case of walls be lined with lower roughness material.