• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.274-282
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• 2016

Natural ventilation is employed in limestone mines that have been currently operated in Korea, and there has been a growing issue of a significantly weak airflow caused by the large-scale excavation. Thus, the air quality in the working area is considerably poor. In order to improve this circumstance, it is mainly required to examine ventilation performance. In this study, the examination of ventilation efficiency was conducted by using tracer gas method. The result of this work indicated detailedly the ventilation problems in research mine, in that extremely low air velocity, recirculation, and air change rate were evaluated quantitatively using tracer gas. Therefore the ventilation performance evaluation using tracer gas can be opted as a precise method to improve the working area in mines.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.307-319
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• 2011

Cyclic loading due to traffic, excavation and blasting causes microcrack growth in rocks over long period of time, and this type of loading often causes rock to fail at a lower stress than its monotonically determined strength. Thus, the crack growth and coalescence under cyclic loading are important for the long-term stability problems. In this research, experiments using gypsum as a model material for rock are carried out to investigate crack propagation and coalescence under monotonic and cyclic loading. Both monotonic and cyclic tests have a similar wing crack initiation position, wing crack initiation angle, cracking sequence and coalescence type. Three types of crack coalescence were observed; Type I, II and III. Type I coalescence occurs due to a shear crack and Type II coalescence occurs through one wing or tension crack. For Type III, coalescence occurs through two wing or tension cracks. Fatigue cracks appear in cyclic tests. Two types of fatigue crack initiation directions, coplanar and horizontal directions, are observed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.531-552
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• 2016

The greenschist in the Jinping II Hydropower Station in southwest China exhibits continuous creep behaviour because of the geological conditions in the region. This phenomenon illustrates the time-dependent deformation and progressive damage that occurs after excavation. In this study, the responses of greenschist to stress over time were determined in a series of laboratory tests on samples collected from the access tunnel walls at the construction site. The results showed that the greenschist presented time-dependent behaviour under long-term loading. The samples generally experienced two stages: transient creep and steady creep, but no accelerating creep. The periods of transient creep and steady creep increased with increasing stress levels. The long-term strength of the greenschist was identified based on the variation of creep strain and creep rate. The ratio of long-term strength to conventional strength was around 80% and did not vary much with confining pressures. A quantitative method for predicting the failure period of greenschist, based on analysis of the stress-strain curve, is presented and implemented. At a confining pressure of 40 MPa, greenschist was predicted to fail in 5000 days under a stress of 290 MPa and to fail in 85 days under the stress of 320 MPa, indicating that the long-term strength identified by the creep rate and creep strain is a reliable estimate.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.263-273
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• 2007

When a tunnel or an underground structure is excavated in deep geological environments, the failure process is affected and eventually dominated by stress-induced fractures growing preferentially parallel to the excavation boundary. This fracturing is generally referred to as brittle failure by spatting and slabbing. Continuum models with traditional failure criteria such as Hoek-Brown or Mohr-Coulomb criteria have not been successful in prediction of the extent and depth of brittle failure. Instead cohesion weakening and frictional strengthening (CWFS) model is known to predict brittle failure well. In this study, CWFS model was applied to predict the brittle failure around a circular opening observed in physical model experiments. To obtain the input parameters for CWFS model, damage-controlled tests were carried out. The predicted depth and extent of brittle failure using CWFS model were compared to the results of the physical model experiment and numerical simulation using traditional model.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.16 no.6 s.65
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• pp.437-450
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• 2006

Failure around an underground opening is a function of in-situ stress magnitudes, intact rock strength and the distribution of fractures in the rock mass. At high in-situ stress, the failure process is affected and eventually dominated by stress-induced fractures preferentially growing parallel to the excavation boundary. This fracturing is often observed in brittle type of failure such as slabbing or spatting. Recent studies dies on the stress-induced damage of rock revealed its importance especially in a highly stressed regime. As the constructions of underground structures at deep depths increased, the cases of the brittle failure also increased and furthermore spalling was occurred in Korea at low depths. To improve the stability of the underground structures at highly stressed regime, the characteristics of brittle failure should be examined, but they have not yet been properly investigated. Therefore in this report the characteristics of brittle failure such as types, failure mechanism and modeling methods etc. were considered in all aspects, based on the previous researches.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2012

Stability of cut-slope, the orientation and dimension of which are gradually changed, has been analyzed by employing the cross-section method capable of comprehensibly considering the lithological, structural and mechanical characteristics of slope rock. Lithological fragility is investigated by inspecting the drilled core logs and BIPS image has been taken to delineate the rock structure. Engineering properties of drilled-core including the joint shear strength have been also measured. Potential failure modes of cut-slope and failure-induced joints are identified by performing the stereographic projection analysis. Traces of potential failure-induced joints are drawn on the cross-section which depicts the excavated geometry of cut-slope. Considering the distribution of potential plane failure-induced joint traces blocks of plane failure mode are hypothetically formed. The stabilities and required reinforcements of plane failure blocks located at the different excavation depth have been calculated to confirm the applicability of the cross-section method for the optimum cut-slope design.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.155-168
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• 1997

Lattice girder is a new steel support developed in Europe for the replacement of an existing H-shaped steel set, which is installed after tunnel excavation. Lattice girder has the following several advantages : 1. Lattice girder minimizes the amount of shotcrete shadow which happens to occur behind a steel support. 2. A triangular shape of lattice girder makes shotcrete placed efficiently. 3. Lattice girder provides a good bond strength for shotcrete, which makes the composite structure of lattice girder and shotcrete behave monolithic, and therefore, the rock load can be supported effectively by the lattice girder system, This paper presents the results from a model wall test, a strength test for shotcrete shot on the model wall and a strength test for the bond between lattice girder and shotcrete. These tests proved that lattice-girder system is superior to H-shaped steel-set system concerning the shotcrete rebound rate, the developed shotcrete strength and the adhesion characteristics.

• 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/.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.433-445
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• 2020

Professional TBM Operator is in short supply worldwide, and insufficient construction experience of new personnel using TBM can lead to a decline in response capabilities when various construction risks occur. The fact that the TBM construction quality greatly depends on the skill and experience of the TBM operator, and the decrease in productivity due to insufficient skilled manpower, and the decrease in safety due to the decrease in skill level are frequently discussed problems in the TBM industry. To this end, several overseas companies and organizations have developed simulators, and a simulator is being developed in Korea. The International Tunneling Association is planning a comprehensive training, including classroom training, e-learning, simulator training and field training. Given the progress at home and abroad, TBM driver training and formal recognition of training through certification or licensing is expected to become the norm in the near future.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.537-545
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• 2020

In order to reduce the usage of cement slurry in grouting engineering and consume the tunnel excavation waste soil, a new geopolymeric grouting material (GGM) was prepared by combine completely weathered granite (CWG) and blast-furnace slag (BFS), which can be applied to in-situ grouting treatment of completely weathered granite strata. The results showed CWG could participate in the geopolymerization process, and GGM slurry has the characteristics of short setting time, high flowability, low viscosity, high stone rate and high mechanical strength, and a design method of grouting pressure based on viscosity evolution was proposed. By adjusted the content of completely weathered granite and alkali activator concentration, the setting time of GGM were ranged from 5 to 30 minutes, the flowability was more than 23.5 cm, the stone rate was higher than 90%, the compressive strength of 28 days were 7.8-16.9 MPa, the porosity were below 30%. This provides a novel grouting treatment and utilizing excavated soil of tunnels in the similar strata.