• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.31-48
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• 2019

The artificial ground freezing (AGF) method is a groundwater cutoff and/or ground reinforcement method suitable for constructing underground structures in soft ground and urban areas. The AGF method conducts a freezing process by employing a refrigerant circulating through a set of embedded freezing pipes to form frozen walls serving as excavation supports and/or cutoff walls. However, thermal expansion of the pore water during freezing may cause excessive deformation of the ground. On the other hand, as the frozen soil is thawed after completion of the construction, mechanical characteristics of the thawed soil are changed due to the plastic deformation of the ground and the rearrangement of soil fabric. This paper performed a field experiment to evaluate the freezing rate of marine clay in the application of the AGF method. The field experiment was carried out by circulating liquid nitrogen, which is a cryogenic refrigerant, through one freezing pipe installed at a depth of 3.2 m in the ground. Also, a piezo-cone penetration test (CPTu) and a lateral load test (LLT) were performed on the marine clay before and after application of the AGF method to evaluate a change in strength and stiffness of it, which was induced by freezing-thawing. The experimental results indicate that about 11.9 tons of liquid nitrogen were consumed for 3.5 days to form a cylindrical frozen body with a volume of about $2.12m^3$. In addition, the strength and stiffness of the ground were reduced by 48.5% and 22.7%, respectively, after a freezing-thawing cycle.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.265-280
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• 2021

Population density due to urbanization is making people interested in underground space development and much interest in TBM construction with low vibration and noise. This led to a lot of research on TBM. However, research on the characteristics of the cutterhead opening of the TBM equipment being occluded under the ground conditions under which it is excavated is insufficient. Accordingly, a study was conducted to investigate clogging of the cutterhead opening during the shield TBM rolling. To identify the clogging of cutterhead openings in SHIELD TBM equipment, the reduced model experiment was divided into clay rate (10%, 30%, 50%, 60%), cutterhead opening rate (30%, 50%, 60%), and cutterhead rotation direction (one-way, two-way) and rotational speed (3 RPM) and conducted in 36 cases. Results of scale model test on shield TBM clogging, it was analyzed that the ground condition containing clay soil increased the clogging effect in both directions than the unidirectional rotation, and that the lower the rotational speed of the cutterhead, the less the clogging effect. Accordingly, the direction of cutterhead rotation, rotational speed and opening rate are calculated by taking into account ground conditions during ground excavation, the clogging effect can be reduced. It is believed to be effective in saving air as the clogging effect is reduced. Therefore, this study is expected to be an important material for domestic use of shield TBM.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.717-729
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• 2018

Considering the stability of the ground in the process of excavation design is essential because there is a risk of basal heave due to the load of the surrounding ground during the vertical excavation. However, calculation of the factor of safety for basal heave should be performed with two-dimensional equation, and the equation cannot reflect three-dimensional shape of vertical excavation. In this study, an equation for factor of safety for the basal heave was proposed with considering the effect of three-dimensional shape. It is confirmed that the equation can more appropriately reflect the basal heave stability 3D circular vertical excavation than the existing equation. Using the equation proposed in this study, it is possible to derive an appropriate factor of safety according to the 3D excavation shape during the circular vertical shaft excavation.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2015

A fault is one of the critical factors that may lead to a possible ground collapse occurring in construction site. A fault core, however, possibly acting as a failure plane in whole fault zone, is composed of fractured rock and gouge nonuniformly distributed and thus can be characterized by its wide range of shear strength which is generally acquired by experimental method for stability analysis. In this study, we performed direct shear test and grain size distribution analysis for 62 fault core samples cropped from 12 different spots located in the vicinity of Kyongju and Ulsan, Korea. As a result, the range of shear strength representing the characteristics of fault cores in the study regions is determined with regard to vertical stress using a regression analysis for experiment data. The weight ratio of gravels in the samples is proportional to the shear strength and that of silt and clay is in inverse proportion to the shear strength. For most samples, the coefficient of determination is over 0.7 despite of inhomogeneity of them and consequently we determined the lower limit and upper limit of the shear strength with regard to the weight ratio by setting the confidence interval of 95%.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.599-615
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• 2022

In order to excavate underground tunnel most safely such as Han river, the slurry shield TBM method is applied to cope with face of high water pressure for many metro projects. In downtown subway project most of excavated soil is discharged externally whereas in road construction excavated soil is used as filling materials so it becomes important factor for success of the project. After excavated soil, weathered rock and soft rock are discharged with bentonite through discharge pipe to slurry treatment plant then those soils are separated in separation plant according to those size. Fine grained soil has been discarded together with filter cake but it is not toxic and can be mixed with coarse aggregate in proper ratio so this study is performed to find use of qualified filling material to meet quality standard. Therefore, in this study, legal standards and quality standards for the utilization of excavated soil of the slurry shield TBM method were examined and test was conducted to derive recycling way for filter cake and aggregate. And a plan for using it as a filling material for road construction was derived. Because bentonite is a clay composed of montmorillonite, and the excavated soil in the tunnel is also non-toxic, disposal of this material can waste social cost so it is expected to be helpful in the underground space development project that carries out the TBM project by recycling it as a valuable resource.

• 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 Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.834-846
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to development of IDFIS system, that are consisted of hydrocyclone, rapid flocculation and inclined settler with chitosan coagulant. As the results of Jar test, a chitosan optimum dosage of 40 mg/L for river sediment, and 5 mg/L for tunnelling wastewater sediment, which these conditions leaves of residual turbidity of less than 5 NTU. Because of the effectiveness of chitosan in removing turbidity was independent on pH, the operation of IDFIS system would be simple. The synthesized turbidity was made with clay particles, river sediment, river suspended sediment, and tunnelling wastewater sediment. Results indicate that the mean overall removal efficiency of turbidity, SS, COD and TP were 98%, 99%, 85% and 95%, respectively. Chitosan is very efficient in removing turbidity in the entire turbidity range examined. IDFIS system would have possibility with compact design, because of the increase of floc size favours the floc settling speed and reduces the settling time.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.183-195
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• 2018

Recently, the need for research on vertical shaft excavation is increasing with the increase of the demands for the underground and utility tunnels. As a part of the R&D project of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, CUT (center for utility tunnel) has developed "Ring cut method". "Ring cut method" is a method to improve the stability of the ground against the basal heave by excavator wall pre-penetration during vertical shaft excavation. In this study, the basal heave was simulated by centrifugal model test. The basal heave, ground subsidence, and ground deformation of surrounding ground were analyzed by soil plug effect from wall pre-penetration. It was found that the soil plug could control the basal heaving and ground subsidence, and verified that the 'Ring cut method' could be a good countermeasure for the ground stability against the basal heave.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.193-204
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• 2008

This paper describes laboratory experiments modelling multiple tunnel construction in soft ground. A series of small-scale model tests have been conducted at approximately 1/50 scale in order to investigate the behaviours of existing tunnels in response to the construction of new tunnels in close proximity. The model tunnels were constructed in a consolidated Speswhite Kaolin clay using a tunnelling device involving an auger type cutter within a shield. Strain gauges and LVDTs were used for instrumenting the existing tunnels. The findings obtained from the analyses of these tests were compared to the field measurements involving the reconstruction of the Northern Line London Underground Ltd. tunnels at Old street, United Kingdom. The results were also compared to the ground movement measurements obtained from a separate set of tests undertaken using the same apparatus and experimental procedures.