• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.855-867
• /
• 2018

When a weak zone exists ahead of tunnel face, the stress in the adjacent area would increase due to the longitudinal arching effect and the stability of the tunnel is affected. Therefore, it is critical to prepare a countermeasure through the investigation of the frontal weakness zone of the excavated face. Although there are several researches to predict the existence of weak zone ahead of tunnel face, such as geophysical exploration, numerical analysis and tunnel support, lack of studies on the relaxation zone depending on the width or distance from the vulnerable area. In this study, the impact of the weak zone on the formation of the relaxation zone was investigated. For this purpose, a series of laboratory test were carried out varying the width of the weak zone and the separation distance between tunnel face and weak zone. In the model test, sand with a water content of 3.8% was used to form a model ground. The model weak zone was constructed with dry sand curtains. The tunnel face was adjusted to allow a sequential excavation of upper and lower half part. load cells were installed on the bottom of the foundation and the tunnel face and measuring instruments for displacement were installed on the surface of the model ground to measure the vertical stress and surface displacements due to tunnel excavation respectively. The test results show that the width of weak zone did not affect the ground settlement while the ground subsidence drastically increased within 0.25D. The vertical stress and horizontal stress increased from 0.5D or less. In addition, the longitudinal arching effect is likely within the 1.0D zone ahead of the tunnel face, which may reduce the vertical stress in the ground following tunneling direction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2005.03a
• /
• pp.401-408
• /
• 2005

Recently shield TBM tunnellings are being applied to subway construction in Korean cities. Generally these kinds of tunnellings have the problems in the stability of ground such as subsidence because urban subway is constructed in the shallow depth. A sinkhole occurred on the road just above the tunnel during tunneling in Kwangju, so a survey for upper layer of the tunnel was needed. But conventional Ground Probing Radar can't be applicable due to the presence of steel-mesh screen in the shield segment, so no existent geophysical method is applicable in this site. Because the outer surface of each shield segment is electrically insulated, dipole-dipole resistivity method which is popular in engineering site investigation, was tried to this survey for the first time. Specially manufactured flexible ring-type electrodes were installed into the grouting holes at an interval of 2.4 m on the ceiling. The K-Ohm II system which has been developed by KIGAM and tested successfully in many sites, was used in this site. The system consists of 1000Volt-1Ampere constant-current transmitter, optically isolated 24 bit sigma-delta A/D conversion receiver - maximum 12 channel simultaneous measurements, and graphical automatic acquisition software for easy data quality check in real time. Borehole camera logging with circular white LED lighting was also done to investigate the state of the layer. Measured resistivity data lack of some stations due to failing opening lids of holes, shows general high-low trend well. The dipole-dipole resistivity inversion results discriminate (1) one approximately 4 meter diameter cavity (grouted but incompletely hardened, so low resistivity - less than $30{\Omega}m$), (2) weak zone (100-200${\Omega}m$), and (3) hard zone (high resistivity - more than 1000${\Omega}m$) very well for the distance of 320 meters. The 2-D inversion neglects slight absolute 3-D effect, but we can get satisfactory and useful information. Acquired resistivity section and video tapes by borehole camera logging will be reserved and reused if some problem occurs in this site in the future.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.337-344
• /
• 2018

The study of the mining effect influenced by a normal fault has great significance concerning the prediction and prevention of fault rock burst. According to the occurrence condition of a normal fault, the stress evolution of the working face and fault plane, the movement characteristics of overlying strata, and the law of fault slipping when the working face advances from footwall to hanging wall are studied utilizing UDEC numerical simulation. Then the inducing-mechanism of fault rock burst is revealed. Results show that in pre-mining, the in situ stress distribution of two fault walls in the fault-affected zone is notably different. When the working face mines in the footwall, the abutment stress distributes in a "double peak" pattern. The ratio of shear stress to normal stress and the fault slipping have the obvious spatial and temporal characteristics because they vary gradually from the higher layer to the lower one orderly. The variation of roof subsidence is in S-shape which includes slow deformation, violent slipping, deformation induced by the hanging wall strata rotation, and movement stability. The simulation results are verified via several engineering cases of fault rock burst. Moreover, it can provide a reference for prevention and control of rock burst in a fault-affected zone under similar conditions.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.275-287
• /
• 2023

Subgrade differential settlement of high-speed railways was a pivotal issue that could increase the risk of trains operation. The risk will be further increased when trains in the subsidence zone are affected by crosswinds. In this paper, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and finite element (FE) model were established, and the data transmission interface of the two models was established by fluid-solid interaction (FSI) method to form a systematic crosswind-train-track-subgrade dynamic model. The risk of high-speed train encountering crosswind in settlement area was analyzed. The results showed that the aerodynamic force of the trains increased significantly with the increase in crosswind speed. The aerodynamic force of the trains could reach 125.14 kN, significantly increasing the risk of derailment and overturning. Considering the influence of crosswind, the risk of train operation could be greatly increased. The safety indices and the wheel-rail force both increased with the increase of the wind speed. For the high-speed train running at 350 km/h, the warning value of wind speed was 10.2 m /s under the condition of subgrade settlement with wavelength of 20 m and amplitude of 15 mm.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 1997

Seismic data from Lake Tanganyika indicate a complex tectonic, structural, and stratigraphic history. The Lake Tanganyika rift consists of half grabens which tend to alternate dip-direction along the strike of the rift. Adjacent half-grabens are separated by distinct accommodation zones of strike-slip motion. These are areas of relatively high basement, and are classified into two distinct forms which depend on the map-view geometry of the border faults on either side of the accommodation zone. One type is the high-relief accommodation zone which is a fault bounded area of high basement with little subsidence or sediment accumulation. These high-relief areas probably formed very early in the rifting process. The second type is the low-relief accommodation zone which is a large, faulted anticlinal warp with considerable rift sediment accumulated over its axis. These low-relief features continue to develop as rifting processes. This structural configuration profoundly influences depositional processes in Lake Tanganyika. Not only does structures dictate where discrete basins and depocenters can exist, it also controls the distribution of sedimentary facies within basins, both in space and time. This is because rift shoulder topography controls regional drainage patterns and sediment access into the lake. Large fluvial and deltaic systems tend to enter the rift from the up-dip side of half-grabens or along the rift axis, while fans tend to enter from the border fault side.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.14 no.6 s.53
• /
• pp.411-422
• /
• 2004

Sinkhole subsidence occurs over abandoned mine workings and can be detrimental to human lives, damage to properties and other surface structures. In this study, simulation of sinkhole development process is performed using special finite element procedure. Especially, creation of mine voids due to roof falls and generation of goaf from broken rocks are simulated using active-passive-active finite elements. An active or solid element can be made passive or void once the tensile failure criterion is satisfied in the specified sinkhole formation zone. Upon completion of sinkhole development process, these passive elements in again be made active to simulate goal region. Several finite element models are analyzed to evaluate the relationships between sinkhole formation with width of gallery. depth of mine, roof condition and bulking factor of roof rocks. This study demonstrates that the concept of passive elements in numerical analysis can be used effectively for analyzing sinkhole formation or roof fall phenomenon in general.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.39-47
• /
• 2016

PURPOSES : Road subsidence occurs owing to road cavities, which cause many social and environmental problems, especially in cities. Recently, road cavities were detected by various ground radars and repair works were carried out against the detected cavities. The condition assessments related to the road cavities are necessary to understand the potential risk of the cavities. Therefore, in this study, a numerical study was performed to assess the various conditions of road cavities. METHODS : The numerical method adopted in this study is the discrete element approach, and it is suitable for analyzing the condition because it can consider the movement of the soil particles in the surrounded cavity areas. In addition, the triaxial test was modeled and performed under various cavity conditions inside the specimens. RESULTS : The conditions of different cavity locations and shapes were analyzed to identify the effect of cavity state. Three general cases of particle size distributions were formulated to identify the effect of surrounding ground conditions. As a result, the degree of decrement and volumetric strain were varied depending on the locations and shapes of the cavity. Only minor changes were observed when the particle size distributions were altered. CONCLUSIONS : The strength reduction was higher when the cavity formed was larger and located in the upper zone. Similar to the cavity shape, strength reduction and volume deformation are more influenced by the width than the length of the cavities. There is an influence from ground conditions such as the particle size distribution, especially on the wide cavity.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.80-87
• /
• 2004

During excavation work for the construction of a highway bridge in a limestone area in Korea, several cavities were found, and construction work was stopped temporarily. Cavities under the bridge piers might seriously threaten the safety of the planned bridge, because they could lead to excessive subsidence and differential settlement of the pier foundations. In order to establish a method for reinforcement of the pier foundations, borehole radar reflection and tomography surveys were carried out, to locate cavities under the planned pier locations and to determine their sizes where they exist. Since travel time data from the crosshole radar survey showed anisotropy, we applied an anisotropic tomography inversion algorithm assuming heterogeneous elliptic anisotropy, in order to reconstruct three kinds of tomograms: tomograms of maximum and minimum velocities, and of the direction of the symmetry axis. The distribution of maximum velocity matched core logging results better than that of the minimum velocity. The degree of anisotropy, defined by the normalized difference between maximum and minimum velocities, was helpful in deciding whether an anomalous zone in a tomogram was a cavity or not. By careful examination of borehole radar reflection and tomography images, the spatial distributions of cavities were delineated, and most of them were interpreted as being filled with clay and/or water. All the interpretation results implied that two faults imaged clearly by a DC resistivity survey were among the most important factors controlling the groundwater movement in the survey area, and therefore were closely related to the development of cavities. The method of reinforcement of the pier foundations was based on the interpretation results, and the results were confirmed when construction work was resumed.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.19-24
• /
• 2000

Seismic reflection data was obtained by using 28 and 100 Hz geophones at the ground subsidence sites in an old coal mine area. Frequency spectrum of the geophone analyzed with offset revealed that 1) In the near offset ($1\~10m$), the signals in the 100 Hz geophone data contains higher frequency components (up to 300 Hz) than that of the 28 Hz (<200 Hz), 2) In the intermediate offset ($11\~39m$), although the 28 Hz geophone data showed very similar frequency characteristics as the near offset data, the 100Hz geophone data seemed to be contaminated by noise at high frequency zone (>200 Hz). In the far offset ($\geq40\;m$), the signals in both the 28 and 100 Hz geophone data are attenuated to noise level at high frequency Bone more than 150 Hz.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.105-114
• /
• 2019

In this paper, simulation tests were conducted with similar materials to study the distribution of residual voids in longwall goaf. Short-time step loading was used to simulate the obvious deformation period in the later stage of arch breeding. Long-time constant loading was used to simulate the rheological stage of the arch forming. The results show that the irregular caving zone is the key area of old goaf for the subsidence control. The evolution process of the stress arch and fracture arch in stope can be divided into two stages: arch breeding stage and arch forming stage. In the arch breeding stage, broken rocks are initially caved and accumulated in the goaf, followed by the step deformation. Arch forming stage is the rheological deformation period of broken rocks. In addition, under the certain loads, the broken rock mass undergoes single sliding deformation and composite crushing deformation. The void of broken rock mass decreases gradually in short-time step loading stage. Under the water lubrication, a secondary sliding deformation occurs, leading to the acceleration of the broken rock mass deformation. Based on above research, the concept of equivalent height of residual voids was proposed, and whose calculation equations were developed. Finally, the conceptual model was verified by the field measurement data.