• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.42-50
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• 2008

To evaluate rock bolt integrity, destructive test such as pull-out test has been commonly carried out. This method is known as time consuming, expensive, and inaccurate procedure. To improve destructive method, non-destructive techniques using transmitted guided ultrasonic waves were suggested. Note for the transmission method, the source for the generation of ultrasonic waves should be installed during the rock bolt construction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reflection method using reflected guided ultrasonic waves to evaluate the integrity of the rock bolt grouted, and to compare the results evaluated by the reflection and transmission methods. The guided waves are generated by PZT element and received by AE sensor. The measured signals are analyzed by the wavelet transform. The results show that the energy velocities of guided ultrasonic waves increase with the defect ratio in both transmission and reflection method. The reflection method produces the lower velocity in all defect ratio. This research demonstrates that the reflection method may be suitable and easer method for the field tests.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.563-573
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• 2015

For hard rock subsea tunnels the most challenging rock mass conditions are in most cases represented by major faults/weakness zones. Poor stability weakness zones with large water inflow can be particularly problematic. At the pre-construction investigation stage, geological and engineering geological mapping, refraction seismic investigation and core drilling are the most important methods for identifying potentially adverse rock mass conditions. During excavation, continuous engineering geological mapping and probe drilling ahead of the face are carried out, and for the most recent Norwegian subsea tunnel projects, MWD (Measurement While Drilling) has also been used. During excavation, grouting ahead of the tunnel face is carried out whenever required according to the results from probe drilling. Sealing of water inflow by pre-grouting is particularly important before tunnelling into a section of poor rock mass quality. When excavating through weakness zones, a special methodology is normally applied, including spiling bolts, short blast round lengths and installation of reinforced sprayed concrete arches close to the face. The basic aspects of investigation, support and tunnelling for major weakness zones are discussed in this paper and illustrated by cases representing two very challenging projects which were recently completed (Atlantic Ocean tunnel and T-connection), one which is under construction (Ryfast) and one which is planned to be built in the near future (Rogfast).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.145-155
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• 2022

Safety is a most important parameters in underground railway transportation; Also stability of underground tunnel is very important in tunneling engineering. Design of a reliable support system requires an evaluation of both ground demand and support capacity. Iran's traditional railway tunnels are mainly supported with masonry structures or unsupported in high quality rock masses. A decrease in rock mass quality due to changes in groundwater regime creep and fatigue in rock and similar phenomena causes tunnel safety to decrease during time. The case study is an old tunnel in Iran, called "Keshvar"; it is more than 50 years old railway organization. In operating this Tunnel, until the several problems came up based on stability and leaking water. The goal of study is evaluation of the various reinforcement systems for supporting of the tunnel. The optimal selection of the reinforcement system is examined using TOPSIS Fuzzy method in light of the looming and available uncertainties. Several factors such as; the tunnel span, maintenance, drainage, sealing, ventilation, cost and safety were based to choose the method and system of designing. Therefore, by identifying these parameters, an optimal reinforcement system was selected and introduced. Based on optimization system for analysis, it is revealed that the systematic rock bolts and shotcrete protection had a most appropriate result for these kind of tunnel in Iran.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.403-413
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• 2007

As rock bolts become one of the main support systems in tunnels and underground structures, the integrity of the rock bolts affects the safety of these types of structures. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of rock bolt integrity using Fourier and wavelet transforms of the guided ultrasonic waves. After five rock bolt specimens with various defect ratios are embedded into a large scale concrete block, guided waves are generated by a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) element and measured by an acoustic emission (AE) sensor. The captured signals are analyzed in the frequency domain using the Fourier transform, and in the time-frequency domain using the wavelet transform based on a Gabor wavelet. The spectrum obtained from the Fourier transform shows that a portion of high frequency contents increases with increase in the defect ratio. Peak values in the time-frequency domain represent the interval of travel time of each echo. The energy velocities of the guided waves increase with the defect ratio. This study shows that the spectrum ratio and the energy velocity may be indicators fur the evaluation of rock bolt integrity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.397-414
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• 2015

Three different applications for monitoring displacements in underground structures using a BOTDR-based distributed optical fiber strain sensing system are presented. These applications are related to the strain measurements of (1) instrumented PVC tube designed to be attached to tunnel side wall and ceiling as a sensor; (2) rock bolts for tunnels; and (3) shotcrete lining under loading. The effectiveness of using the proposed strain sensing system is evaluated by carrying out laboratory tests, in-situ measurements, and numerical simulations. The results obtained from this validation process provide confidence that the optical fiber is able to quantify strain fields under a variety of loading conditions and consequently use this information to estimate the behavior of rock mass during mining activity. As the measuring station can be located as far as 1 km of distance, these alternatives presented may increase the safety of the mine during mining process and for the personnel doing the measurements on the field.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.79-86
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• 1997

In this study, pre-postprocessing toolbox is developed to perform elasto-plastic analyze of underground structures with transient ground water flow. This toolbox is composed of three modules. The first is the data input processor for the structural analysis. The preprocessing Is using GUI (Graphic User Interface), which is consist of dialog box, pull down, and short-cut icon, etc. The second is the structural analysis module. The analysis is based on the elasto-plastic finite element method involving additional options such as ground excavation effect, transient ground water flow, and rock bolts behavior. The last is the postprocessing module. The postprocessing is able to verify the result of the structural analysis by the graphical simulation which visualizes the element mesh, the node displacements, the element stress states, the stress contour, the ground water surface, and the rock bolt stresses. Since various options are considered separately in this toolbox, it is easy to modify the module of each processing, and to update other functional modules for the given analysis conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.57-66
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• 2008

In this study, the blast-induced vibration effects on the structural stability of the adjacent tunnel and the stability were estimated with respect to the allowable peak particle velocity (PPV). The blasting distance from the tunnel satisfying the allowable PPV was estimated based on the analytical solutions, United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) suggestions, and the equations used in the subway in Seoul. The allowable blasting distance was estimated by using finite difference analysis (FDA) and the behavior of the concrete lining and rock bolts was examined and the stability of those was estimated during the blast. Research results show that the blast-induced vibration effects on the structural stability are negligible for the concrete lining but relatively large for the rock bolts.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.194-203
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• 1999

The axial stress in rock bolt, the shear stress at the bolt-grout interface and the neutral point are analyzed to understand the mechanical behavior of rook bolt. To analyze the support effects of rock bolt in various geological conditions, numerical analyses are performed with regard to bolt spacing and bolt length in several geological conditions and tunnel sizes. Through the numerical analyses, the distributions of maximum tensile stress and shear stress are determined. And the excavation width of underground opening affects the position of the neutral point. In the circular opening supported by pattern bolting, the increase of confining pressure, the reduction of plastic zone, and that of ground displacement are determined by using the radial stress increase ratio, the plastic zone reduction ratio and the displacement reduction ratio respectively. The results of this study can be applied to a practical tunnel design through understanding of the trends of these support effects.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2018

In this paper, the creep behavior of bolted rock was analyzed by using the unconfined creep tests and the numerical results. Based on the test results, the Bolted Burgers creep model (B-B model) was proposed to clarify the creep mechanism of rock mass due to rock bolts. As to the simulation of the creep behaviour of bolted rock, a new user-defined incremental iterative format of the B-B model was established and the open-source $FLAC^{3D}$ code was written by using the object-oriented language (C++). To check the reliability of the present B-B creep constitutive model program, a numerical model of a tunnel with buried depth of 1000 m was established to analyze the creep response of the tunnel with the B-B model support, the non-support and the bolt element support. The simulation results show that the present B-B model is consistent with the calculated results of the inherent bolt element in $FLAC^{3D}$, and the convergence deformation can be more effectively controlled when the proposed B-B model is used in the $FLAC^{3D}$ software. The big advantage of the present B-B creep model secondarily developed in the $FLAC^{3D}$ software is the high computational efficiency.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.181-189
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• 2009

This study is to evaluate an effect of supports with respect to these supports after comparing the characteristic of support between rock bolt of a widely used type and spiral bolt of a new type. For these purposes, we performed pull-out test in laboratory about rock and spiral bolts in the case of cement-mortar grout curing periods, 7 and 28 days, then calculated pull-out load, displacement, external pressure, inner pressure and shear stress using data obtained from the results of pull-out test, respectively. In relation between pull-out load and displacement, displacement of spiral bolt is larger than one of rock bolt. It is considered that mechanical property of rock bolt is due to larger than one of spiral bolt. In addition, displacement of supports shows nearly same or decreasing with curing periods. We found that because adhesive force between supports and cement-mortar grout is increasing with compressive strength of grout according to curing periods. The inner pressure of spiral bolt is represented larger than one of rock bolt at a step of same pull-out load. It is suggested that spiral bolt is more stable than rock bolt, maintaining stability of ground or rock mass, when supports are installed in a ground or rock mass under the same condition. Putting together with above results, we can consider that spiral bolt as a new support on an aspect of pull-out load and inner pressure is larger than rock bolt in a ground or rock mass under the same condition. Moreover, spiral bolt is more effective support than rock bolt, considering an economical and constructive aspects of supports, as well as ground or rock stability before or after installing supports.