• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2011

The risk assessment is essential for tunnel design in order to minimize risks associated with uncertainty about geological conditions and tunneling method. This paper provides a comparative risk analysis of a large single bore TBM driven tunnel against sequentially excavated NATM tunnel for a mixed-face large-diameter urban tunnel project near or under a river. The focus of this assessment is on the risks associated with the tunnel excavation methods, in particular whether a TBM or NATM presents more or less risk to achieve the planned excavation duration and bring the project within the estimated bid price. First, the impacts and risks to tunnel construction under each method were discussed, and the risks were scored and ranked in the order of perceived severity and likelihood. Finally, the assessment from a risk based perspective was conducted to decide which alternate tunneling method is more likely to deliver the project with the least time and cost. It is very important to note that this study is only applied to this tunnel project with specific geological conditions and other contract requirements.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 2006

For a hydro power plant project, the headrace tunnel having a finished diameter of 3.3 m was constructed in volcanic rocks with well-developed vertical joint and high groundwater table. The intake facility was located 20.3km upstream of the powerhouse and headrace tunnel of 20km in length and penstock of 440m in height connected the intake and the powerhouse. The typical caldera lake, Lake Toba set the geology at the site the caving of the ground caused tension cracks in the vertical direction to be developed and initial stresses at the ground to be released. High groundwater table(the maximum head of 20bar) in the area of well-connected vertical joints delayed the progress of tunnel excavation severely due to the excessive inflow of groundwater. The excavation of tunnel was made using open-shield type TBM and mucking cars on the rail. High volume of water inflowraised the water level inside tunnel to 70cm, 17% of tunnel diameter (3.9m) and hindered the mucking of spoil under water. To improve the productivity, several adjustments such as modification of TBM and mucking cars and increase in the number of submersible pumps were made forthe excavation of severe water inflow zone. Since the ground condition encountered during excavation turned out to be much worse, it was decided to adopt PC segment lining instead of RC lining. Besides, depending on the conditions of the water inflow, rock mass condition and internal water pressure, one of the invert PC segment lining with in-situ RC lining, RC lining and steel lining was applied to meet the site specific condition. With the adoption of PC segment lining, modification of TBM and other improvement, the excavation of the tunnel under severe groundwater condition was successfully completed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.323-345
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• 2019

It is essential to predict ground conditions ahead of a tunnel face in order to successfully excavate tunnels using a shield TBM. This study proposes a forward prediction method for a mixed soil ground and/or a ground containing core stones by using electrical resistivity and induced polarization exploration. Soil conditioning in EPB shield TBM is dependent upon the composition of mixed soils; a special care need to be taken when excavating the core-stoned soil ground using TBM. The resistivity and chargeability are assumed to be measured with four electrodes at the tunnel face, whenever the excavation is stopped to assemble one ring of a segment lining. Firstly, the mixed ground consisting of weathered granite soil, sand, and clay was modeled in laboratory-scale experiments. Experimental results show that the measured electrical resistivity considerably coincides with the analytical solution. On the other hand, the induced polarization has either same or opposite trend with the measured resistivity depending on the mixed ground conditions. Based on these experimental results, a method to predict the mixed soil ground that can be used during TBM tunnel driving is suggested. Secondly, tunnel excavation from a homogeneous ground to a ground containing core stones was modeled in laboratory scale; the irregularity of the core stones contained in the soil layer was modeled through random number generation scheme. Experimental results show that as the TBM approaches the ground that contains core stones, the electrical resistivity increases and the induced polarization fluctuates.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2014

The interest in the use of shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) on the tunnel excavation has been increased rapidly in Korea. The shield TBM tunnel is generally designed as non-drainage tunnel. Consequently, if water leakage through the segment joints happens, big problems on the usage and stability of tunnel can be occurred. In this study, the variation of waterproof capacity of hydrophilic waterstop by the construction error and excessive displacement of segment was studied firstly. Secondly, the decrease of durability of hydrophilic waterstop by the sulphate and chloride contained in the groundwater and seawater was investigated. The results showed that if the angle discordance at the segment joints is beyond the 2 degree, the proper waterproof capacity of hydrophilic waterstop can not be guaranteed. In addition, if the hydrophilic rubber waterstop is exposed to the sulphate for a while, the proper durability of hydrophilic waterstop can not be expected.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.227-232
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• 1994

Recently, TBM (Tunnel Boring Machince) method for a tunnel construction in domestic is very promisible due to shorten a constrution period. It is very important to increase the efficiency of the shotcrete for the TBM. The major factors influencing the efficienty of shotcrete are materials, mix disign, constrution conditions and skill of nozzle-man. In this paper, first, optimum synthesize conditions for the shotcrete accelerators was explored and early stiffenting mechanisms also studied. Second, TBM method was applied for a real job site using the optimum conditions obtained from a lab scale experiment.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.513-525
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• 2018

A 3 dimensional numerical analysis for shield TBM tunnel should take into account various characteristics of the shield TBM excavation, such as gap, tail void, segment installation, and backfill injection. However, analysis method considering excavation characteristics are generally mixed with various method, resulting in concern of consistency and reliability degradation of the analytical results. In this paper, a parametric study is carried out by using actually measured ground settlement data on various methods that can be used for 3 dimensional numerical analysis of shield TBM tunneling. As a result, we have analyzed and arranged an analytical method to predict similarly the behavior of ground settlement and tunnel face pressure at the design stage. Skin plate pressure, backfill pressure and soil model have been identified as the most significant influences on the ground settlement. The grout pressure model is considered to be applicable when there is no volume loss information on the excavated ground, such as seabed tunnels, or when it is important to identify the behavior around a tunnel, such as surface settlement as well as face pressure. And it is considered that designers can use these guidelines as a base material to perform a reasonable 3 dimensional numerical analysis that reflects the ground conditions and the features of the shield TBM tunneling.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.260-269
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• 2003

In order to introduce to engineers the suitable calculation techniques of TBM advance rate (ad.) and ultimately promote to understand the designing process, this study was carried out. We analyzed the 17 bored data of TBM which applied to the roadway and water supply tunnels in Korea. From this analysis, it was able to how that the average utilization is 30.83% md the correlation equation of Ad and TBM´s diameter (D) is Ad(m/month) = 506.05ㆍ $e^{-0.1162}$$\times$D than the correlation coefficient ($R^2$) is 0.76. In the object of the W tunnel of Seoul-Busan highspeed railway, the Ad of TBM 5.0mø was analyzed by the variety of empirical models and upper correlation equation. Average Ad of the empirical models was calculated to be larger than one of the upper equations. But considering only the results of 3.0~5.0mø TBM in the 17 bored data, the average Ad by the models belongs to the similar range of bored data. Therefore, when the reliability and representative of parameters are decreased, a reliability test should be carried out through the comparison a variety of empirical models with the upper correlation equation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.214-225
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• 2020

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rock is one of the important factors to determine the advance speed during shield TBM tunnel excavation. UCS can be obtained through the Geotechnical Data Report (GDR), and it is difficult to measure UCS for all tunneling alignment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to predict UCS by utilizing TBM machine driving data and machine learning technique. Several machine learning techniques were compared to predict UCS, and it was confirmed the stacking model has the most successful prediction performance. TBM machine data and UCS used in the analysis were obtained from the excavation of rock strata with slurry shield TBMs. The data were divided into 8:2 for training and test and pre-processed including feature selection, scaling, and outlier removal. After completing the hyper-parameter tuning, the stacking model was evaluated with the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the determination coefficient (R²), and it was found to be 5.556 and 0.943, respectively. Based on the results, the sacking models are considered useful in predicting rock strength with TBM excavation data.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.65-85
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• 2023

The use of TBM (Tunnel boring machine) has increased worldwide due to its performance together with the benefit of being safely and environmentally friendly compared to conventional tunneling. In particular, EPB (Earth Pressure Balanced) TBM is widely used because it can be applied to various grounds compared to Open TBM. Also EPB TBM has a simple mechanical structure and advantages in cost, requires less ground area than Slurry TBM. EPB TBM has advantages in soft ground, and more importantly, can extend its applicability by use of appropriate soil conditioning, which improves mechanical and hydrological properties of excavated soil and increases the excavation performance of EPB TBM. Various studies suggested the proper mixing ratio and injection ratio, but almost they are limited to laboratory test under atmospheric pressure such as slump test. Actual field conditions may differ depending on the ground and mechanical condition. In this study, first the amount of used soil conditioning used in the field with various grounds from hard rock to soft ground was estimated through laboratory tests and compared with the estimate in design stage. And also it was compared with the amount used during actual excavation. In addition, experience of soil conditioning for the problems of cutter head clogging and groundwater inrush that occurred during excavation is discussed. Finally, lesson learned for the use of soil conditioning in difficult ground condition such as mixed ground are reviewed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.337-354
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• 2013

For shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) tunnel lining, the segment joint is the most critical component for determining the mechanical response of the complete lining ring. To investigate the mechanical behavior of the segment joint in a water conveyance tunnel, which is different from the vehicle tunnel because of the external loads and the high internal water pressure during the tunnel's service life, full-scale joint tests were conducted. The main advantage of the joint tests over previous ones was the definiteness of the loads applied to the joints using a unique testing facility and the acquisition of the mechanical behavior of actual joints. Furthermore, based on the test results and the theoretical analysis, a mechanical model of segment joints has been proposed, which consists of all important influencing factors, including the elastic-plastic behavior of concrete, the pre-tightening force of the bolts and the deformations of all joint components, i.e., concrete blocks, bolts and cast iron panels. Finally, the proposed mechanical model of segment joints has been verified by the aforementioned full-scale joint tests.