• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.343-354
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• 2008

A new method is suggested herein to measure the virgin earth stresses by means of a borehole. This novel concept is basically a combination of borehole stress relieving and borehole fracturing techniques. The destressing of the borehole is achieved by means of inducing thermal tensile stresses at the borehole periphery by using a cryogenic fluid such as Liquid Nitrogen($LN_2$). The borehole wall eventually develops fractures when the induced thermal stresses exceed the existing compressive stresses at the borehole periphery in addition to the tensile strength of the rock. The above concept is theoretically analyzed for its potential applicability to interpret in situ stress levels from the tensile fracture stresses and the corresponding borehole wall temperatures. Coupled thermo-mechanical numerical simulations are also conducted using FLAC3D, with thermal option, to check the validity of the proposed techniques. From the preliminary theoretical and numerical analysis, the method suggested for the measurement of in situ stresses appears to be capable of accurate estimation of the virgin stresses by monitoring tensile crack formation at a borehole wall and recording the wall temperatures at the time of crack initiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.34-41
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• 2006

A 3-dimensional stress measurement system based on the bore hole bottom deformation method, which is one of the stress relief methods, was developed. A pilot bore hole is drilled from the bottom of a bore hole and the stress meter is inserted into the pilot bore hole in the method. The bore hole is advanced as an over coring and the deformations in seven directions are measured by cantilever type-sensors. Using the cantilever type-sensors saves time for hardening of glue. No cable connection between the stress meter and a data logger is necessary since a compact data logger is installed in the stress meter. The accuracy of the stress meter was confirmed by a biaxial test for a Shikotsu welded tuff block although in-situ tests have not been carried out yet.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

We propose a borehole test technique to estimate permeability of rocks in borehole. The borehole tests are hydraulic injection tests such as leak-off test and hydraulic fracturing tests, which are originally conducted for stress or casing integrity assessment and not for permeability measurement. We use one-dimensional radial diffusion equation to interpret fluid injection test results in terms of permeability. We apply this technique to a leak-off test conducted at a depth of 700 m in a wellbore, where rock formation is mudstone. The estimated permeability is at an order of $10^{-16}m^2$, which is somewhat high but within the range reported for mudstones previously. Quantitative rick assessment suggests that an accurate measurement of open hole section length is important to improve reliability of results. More data may be needed to ensure the reliability of this technique. If validated, however, this technique can provide cost-effective estimation of in situ permeability without conducting independent permeability tests in borehole.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.91-104
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• 2001

As in Korean environments with mountainous and hilly areas, the rock generally has to be removed in construction or civil engineering work in tunnelling or excavation for development in urban area. Explosives should be used for blasting, which may cause serious problems on local people for their claim for compensation due to ground vibration, noise. For safe and economic blasting, geology and engineering characteristics of rocks such as discontinuities of rock or weathering are very important factors, together with site characteristics for prediction of ground vibration. In this study, conducted were the detailed study for major rocks most widely distributed in the South-east area, in-situ geological survey, geological and geochemical analysis, and further laboratory uniaxial rock stress, seismic velocity of core samples together with in-situ seismic velocity measurements. Regulations on ground vibration and noise were reviewed for assessing their adaptabilities, and a total of 4,856 measured blasting vibration data were examined for enhancing the confidence level in estimating the predictive formulation using scaled distance statistically.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.248-258
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• 2002

The sixth underground pumped powerhouse cavern is now under construction in Korea. For the stability analysis for the caverns of the five underground powerhouses, finite element method was used. For the analysis, in-situ rock stress were measured by overcoring method. The stress measurement showed that initial horizontal to vertical stress ratio was 1.07-1.32 in low powerhouse sites. Rock mass strength and elasticity were assumed from rock core properties through engineering processes. So the ratio of input elasticity fur the analysis were about 0.16-0.55 to rock core elasticity. In most of the analysis, elasto-plastic condition with Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria were applied. But in one case, viscoelastic condition was applied, too. The input cohesion and internal friction angle were approximately 0.12-0.22, 0.6-0.87 to rock core strength parameters, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.83-114
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• 1998

The most widely accepted method for understanding the deformation mechanism of rock is from the use of computer simulation. However, if the changes in rock properties after excavation are significant this will prevent the computer simulation kent predicting the deformation with acceptable accuracy. If the deformations are, however, carefully measured in situ, the resulting data can be more useful far predicting the deformational behavior of underground openings, since the effect of the parameters which influence the deformational behavior are included in the measurement. In this study, extensive data analyses were carried out using the deformation measurements from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which is a permanent nuclear waste repository The results from computer simulations were compared with field measurements to evaluate the assumptions used in the computer simulations, For better description of the deformational behavior around underground excavations, several techniques were developed, namely: (a) the calculation of the zero strain boundary; (b) the evaluation of the influence of adjacent excavations on the deformational behavior of pre-excavated openings; (c) the description of the deformational behavior using in situ measurements; (d) the calculation of the shear stress distribution; and (e) the application of a Neural Network for the prediction of opening deformation.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.237-274
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• 1995

This study was focused on the improvement of the measurement technique of P-wave velocity for the assesment of the anisotropy of the engineering property of rock. Samples used were collected from a working quarry within the Carnmenellis granite area on which series of engineering geological data have been accumulated. This study mainly concerned the development of measurement technique at the curved surface of rock, the use of natural honey-based coupling agent and the drying method for rock specimen over $P_2O_5$. According to the results, the range of the P-wave velocity anisotropy in two dimensional plane, fell between 0 and 4.68 (%). The direction where maximum velocity occurred was parallel to the orientation of the maximum in-situ stress. The result showed that P - wave velocity is a useful measure to asses the anisotropy of the engineering property of rock and it is suggested that the improvements adopted here can be applied to the experimental work on the rocks in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.351-359
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• 2007

Multi-axial compression tests have been frequently conducted to evaluate the in situ properties of rock masses and the mechanical behaviors of rock strata through the model tests. Without the proper boundary condition for the model tests, the mechanical behavior of rock mass would deviate, as can be expected, from the in situ conditions. The boundary condition will affect the internal stress distribution of the specimens and cause some distortion on the measurement. In this study, a design process regarding the steel brush, which has been employed for multi-axial compression test to reduce the frictional restraint along the specimen/loading platen interface, is introduced. The individual brushes are regarded as a simple column and beam to calculate the cross-sectional size and length of the brushes in consideration of the buckling capacity and the allowable deflection.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.526-532
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• 2000

The uniaxial compressive strength of rock mass is known as the major factor in the assessment of drillability and the optimum excavation design in full-face tunnel excavation by TBM. Referring to worldwide cases, TBM has been applied mostly to the rock mass within the strength range of 80~250 MPa. Recently, a water way tunnel has been constructed as a part of Milyang dam project by TBM within the rock masses where the rock type is mainly granite with some granophyre, hornfels and andesite. Their uniaxial compressive strengths in extended area are estimated higher than 260 MPa. In this paper, the relation between the penetration rate and the rock mass properties is analyzed and TBM application to the very hard rocks is discussed. As a result that three suggestions to predict the TBM net penetration rate are analyzed, NTH method seems a better approach than other methods in the extremely hard rocks. NTH prediction matches with the results of actual values with the variations of 2~20%. Hardness measurement by Schmidt hammer and RMR estimation are carried out along the L = 5.3 km entire TBM tunnel alignment. The net penetration rate measured monthly is shown to be reciprocally proportional to Schmidt rebound hardness and RMR where coefficients of correlation, $R^2$are 0.705 and 0.777 respectively. As a result, they are good quantitative indices for the prediction of TBM net penetration rate in the extremely hard rocks. Magnitude of in-situ stress has a certain effect on TBM performance, and it is required to measure the in-situ stresses in TBM excavation design.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.209-222
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• 1996

Shut-in pressure, reopenting pressure and fracture orientation are very important parameters to be evaluated precisely in in-situ stress measurement by hydraulic fracturing. Graphical methods on pressure-time curves have been conventionally used, even though these are seriously dependent on subjectivity of interpreters. So there have been many demands on new method to objectivity in determining parameters. We have developed integrated hydrofracturing data processing program (HYDFRAC), based on nonlinear regression analysis and can be invoked under the Window graphical user interface. HYDFRAC consiste of three routines, that is shut-in pressure routine, reopening pressure routine, and fracture delineation routine. Each of routines include independent modules according to parameter determination methods. Its application to field tests ensured both objectivity and facility in determining of hydraulic fracturing parameters. Determining shut-in pressures at each pressurization cycles, we adopted the exponential pressure-decay method(EPD method), the bilinear pressure-decay-rate method (PDR method), and the tangent intersection method in order to find the pressurization-cyclic tendency of shut-in pressures. The estimated pressure by PDR method exists in the range of the upper and lower values by EPD method, and lies near to the upper value more than the lower. Being the pressurization cycle increased, the range of upper and lower limits come to be stabilized gradually. By graphical superposition method and bilinear pressure-accumulated volume method, reopening pressures were determined. Vertical and inclined fracture attitudes were determined by applying the directional statistics and sinusoidal curve fitting, respectively. The results of evaluation of hydrofracturing parameters showed that statistical methods could enhance the objectivity better than graphical methods.