• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.355-365
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• 2019

It is normal to observe the presence of numerous cracks in coal body. And it has significantly effective on the mechanical characteristics and realistic failure models of coal mass. Therefore, this paper is to investigate the influence of crack parameters on coal body by comprehensive using theoretical analysis, laboratory experiments and numerical simulation through prepared briquette specimens. Different from intact coal body possessing single peak in stress-strain curve, other specimens with crack angle can be illustrated to own double peaks. Moreover, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of specimens decreases and follow by increasing with the increase of crack angle. It seems to like a parabolic shape with an upward opening. And it can be demonstrated that the minimum UCS is obtained in crack angle $45^{\circ}$. In terms of failure types, it is interesting to note that there is a changing trend from tensile failure to tensile-shear mixing failure with tension dominant follow by shear dominant with the increase of crack angle. However, the changing characteristics of UCS and failure forms can be explained by elastic-plastic and fracture mechanics. Lastly, the results of numerical simulations are good consistent with the experimental results. It provides experimental and theoretical foundations to reveal fracture mechanism of coal body with non-penetrating single crack further.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.393-407
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• 2022

Due to the enormous cement content, pozzolanic materials, and the use of different aggregates, sustainable controlled low-strength material (CLSM) has a higher material cost than conventional concrete and sustainable construction issues. However, by selecting appropriate materials and formulations, as well as cement and aggregate content, whitethorn costs can be reduced while having a positive environmental impact. This research explores the desire to optimize plastic properties and 28-day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of CLSM containing powder content from unprocessed-fly ash (u-FA) and recycled fine aggregate (RFA). The mixtures' input parameters consist of water-to-cementitious material ratio (W/CM), fly ash-to-cementitious materials (FA/CM), and paste volume percentage (PV%), while flowability, bleeding, segregation index, and 28-day UCS were the desired responses. The central composite design (CCD) notion was used to produce twenty CLSM mixes and was experimentally validated using MATLAB by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Variance analysis (ANOVA) was used for the determination of statistical models. Results revealed that the plastic properties of CLSM improve with the FA/CM rise when the strength declines for 28 days-with an increase in FA/CM, the diameter of the flowability and bleeding decreased. Meanwhile, the u-FA's rise strengthens the CLSM's segregation resistance and raises its strength over 28 days. Using calcareous powder as a substitute for cement has a detrimental effect on bleeding, and 28-day UCS increases segregation resistance. The response surface method (RSM) can establish high correlations between responses and the constituent materials of sustainable CLSM, and the optimal values of variables can be measured to achieve the desired response properties.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.347-359
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• 2023

With the development of infrastructure, there is a critical shortage of filling materials all over the word. However, a large amount of silt accumulated in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is treated as waste every year, which will cause environmental pollution and waste of resources. Microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology, with the advantage of efficient, economical and environmentally friendly protection, is selected to solidify the abandoned Yellow River silt with poor mechanical properties into high-quality filling material in this paper. Based on unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, determination of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) content and scanning electron microscope (SEM) test, the effects of cementation solution concentration, treatment times and relative density on the solidification effect were studied. The results show that the loose silt particles can be effectively solidified together into filling material with excellent mechanical properties through MICP technology. The concentration of cementation solution have a significant impact on the solidification effect, and the reasonable concentration of cementation solution is 1.5 mol/L. With the increase of treatment times, the pores in the soil are filled with CaCO₃, and the UCS of the specimens after 10 times of treatment can reach 2.5 MPa with a relatively high CaCO₃ content of 26%. With the improvement of treatment degree, the influence of relative density on the UCS increases gradually. Microscopic analysis revealed that after MICP reinforcement, CaCO₃ adhered to the surface of soil particles and cemented with each other to form a dense structure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.523-529
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• 2023

Cemented uranium tailings backfill created from alkali-activated slag (CUTB) is an effective method of disposing of uranium tailings. Using some environmental functional minerals with ion exchange, adsorption, and solidification abilities as backfill modified materials may improve the leaching resistance of the CUTB. Natural zeolite, which has good ion exchange and adsorption characteristics, is selected as the backfill modified material, and it is added to the backfill materials with cementitious material proportions of 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% to prepare CUTB mixtures with environmental functional minerals. After the addition of natural zeolite, the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the CUTB decreases, but the leaching resistance of the CUTB increases. When the natural zeolite content is 12%, the UCS reaches the minimum value of 8.95 MPa, and the concentration of uranium in the leaching solution is 0.28-8.07 mg/L, the leaching rate R₄₂ is 9.61×10^-7 cm/d, and cumulative leaching fraction P₄₂ is 8.53×10^-4 cm, which shows that the alkali-activated slag cementitious material has a good curing effect on the CUTB, and the addition of environmental functional minerals helps to further improve the leaching resistance of the CUTB, but it reduces the UCS to an extent.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2024

Determination of jointed rock mass properties plays a significant role in the design and construction of underground structures such as tunneling and mining. Rock mass classification systems such as Rock Mass Rating (RMR), Rock Mass Index (RMi), Rock Mass Quality (Q), and deformation modulus (Em) are determined from the jointed rock masses. However, parameters of jointed rock masses can be affected by the tunnel depth below the surface due to the effect of the in situ stresses. In addition, the geomechanical properties of rocks change due to the effect of metamorphism. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to apply correlation analysis to investigate the relationships between rock mass properties and some parameters related to the depth of the tunnel studied. For this purpose, the field work consisted of determining rock mass parameters in a tunnel alignment (~7.1 km) at varying depths from 21 m to 431 m below ground surface. At the same excavation depths, thirty-seven rock types were also sampled and tested in the laboratory. Correlations were made between vertical stress and depth, horizontal/vertical stress ratio (k) and depth, k and Em, k and RMi, k and point load index (PLI), k and Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), Em and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), UCS and PLI, UCS and BTS. Relationships were significant (significance level=0.000) at the confidence interval of 95% (r = 0.77-0.88) between the data pairs for the rocks taken from depths greater than 166 m where the ratio of horizontal to vertical stress is between 0.6 and 1.2. The in-situ stress parameters affected rock mass properties as well as metamorphism which affected the geomechanical properties of rock materials by affecting the behavior of minerals and textures within rocks. This study revealed that in-situ stress parameters and metamorphism should be reviewed when tunnel studies are carried out.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.6C
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• pp.305-314
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• 2012

This paper presents the quantitative damage assessment of granite taken from KAERI Underground Research Tunnel using acoustic emission (AE). The results determined showed the crack initiation and crack damage stress occurred at 48%, 72% of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and until the applied stress level was reached the crack damage stress, the damage degree was 0.06. When the applied stress exceeded 80%, 90% of UCS, the damage degree were 0.34, 0.06 and which were similar to those obtained from axial deformation modulus. The simply regression analysis was used to interpret the relationship of the two damage assessment techniques and the two were highly correlated ($R^2$=0.90). Therefore, damage degree based on the AE energy and mohr-coulomb failure criterion were adopted to predict the mechanical properties. As results, the axial deformation modulus, rock strength, internal friction angle, and cohesion of KURT rock were reduced 6%, 12%, 7%, and 3% until the applied stress was 70% of UCS. But when the applied stress reached 90% of UCS, the results were more reduced 69%, 72%, 62%, and 24%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2014

In this study, a blast furnace slag having latent hydraulic property with an alkaline activator for resource recycling was used to solidify sand without using cement. Existing chemical alkaline activators such as $Ca(OH)_2$ and NaOH were used for cementing soils. An alkaliphilic microorganism, which is active at higher than pH 10, is tested for a new alkaline activator. The alkaliphilic microorganism was added into sand with a blast furnace slag and a chemical alkaline activator. This is called the microorganism alkaline activator. Four different ratios of blast furnace slag (4, 8, 12, 16%) and two different chemical alkaline activators ($Ca(OH)_2$ and NaOH) were used for preparing cemented specimens with or without the alkaliphilic microorganism. The specimens were air-cured for 7 days and then tested for the experiment of unconfined compressive strength (UCS). Experimental results showed that as a blast furnace slag increased, the water content and dry density increased. The UCS of a specimen increased from 178 kPa to 2,435 kPa. The UCS of a specimen mixed with $Ca(OH)_2$ was 5-54% greater than that with NaOH. When the microorganism was added into the specimen, the UCS of a specimen with $Ca(OH)_2$ decreased by 11-60% but one with NaOH increased by 19-121%. The C-S-H hydrates were found in the cemented specimens, and their amounts increased as the amount of blast furnace slag increased through SEM analysis.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.87-92
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• 2014

The Ground anchor is reinforcement to resist pull-out through ground that is used supports structure. The pull-out resistance of anchor is constructed by skin friction resistance from compression borehole wall in expanded wings and bearing pressure from the ground. Especially, underreamed ground anchor is reinforcement that adopts active reinforcement to prevent deformation of ground using bearing resistance generated reaming anchorage. This study is conducted to calculate bearing resistance of underreamed ground anchor. Realistic model tests were fulfilled to determine bearing resistance of anchor, and correlate results of tests to Uniaxial Compressive Strengths (UCS) of ground models that assumed weathered rock condition in 8 case. In a comprehensive series of the tests, the bearing resistances were measured by pull-out tests. The bearing resistances derived from tests have a linear correlation with UCS. We also suggest empirical equation between bearing resistance and UCS of rocks by single linear regression analyses. In test results of this study, the bearing resistances were evaluated approximately 13 times higher than UCS of the grounds, and it is qualitatively similar to numerical values of pull-out force derived from theory.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.101-110
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• 2014

This study presents the results of a regression analysis of the point-load strength ($I_{s(50)}$) and the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of granites in Korea. The regression was carried out for three cases using the least-squares method, reclassifying the granite samples based on their physical properties. The first regression analysis through the origin according to the weathering grade did not give a result with a sufficient degree of confidence, due to the small number of samples. However, the general trend of the correlation between UCS and $I_{s(50)}$according to weathering grade shows that the slope of the linear regression for weathered granite is steeper than that for fresh granite. The second analysis was a simple linear regression for all the granite samples using the least-squares method as well as a linear regression using the bootstrap resampling method in order to increase the confidence level and the accuracy of the regression results. The third regression considered the average strength of granite groups reclassified according to physical properties. These linear regression analyses yielded linear regression equations with slopes of 14 and small standard deviations being similar to values reported in previous studies on Korean granites, but whose intercept values range from 16 to 43 and have a larger standard deviation than those of the present study. In conclusion, it would be advisable to estimate UCS from $I_{s(50)}$, considering the error range derived from the deviation of the regression equations.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.33-45
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• 2019

In this study, in order to recycle a large amount of rocks and weathered mudstones produced by civil engineering projects such as railways and highways, as materials for roadbeds or embankment materials, circumferential specimens with a diameter of 5 cm and a height of 10 cm were made. A mudstone that weathered rapidly during rainfall was collected from Pohang construction sites. The weathered mudstone passed through a 2 mm sieve. It was prepared with the cement ratio, the sand ratio, curing condition and curing days. Three specimens were prepared according to each condition and then the unconfined compressive test, durability test and SEM analysis were performed to evaluate the engineering properties of the cemented soil. In the case of 28 days cured specimen, the strength of under-water cured specimens was 32-55% and the durability index was about 15% higher than air cured specimens. In addition, when the CR increased from 8% to 16%, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of pure mudstone cemented soil under water increased by about 1.6 times and the durability index increased by about 1.9 times. When the SR increased from 0% to 50%, the UCS of the specimen with SR = 10% was slightly less than or equal to specimen with SR = 0%. Then, as the SR became 30-50%, the UCS increased up to 51%. Unlike the UCS, the durability index increased continuously as the SR increased. As a result of SEM analysis, when SR was 50% rather than SR = 0%, the contact between sand particles increased and they were connected to each other. Such contact between these particles resulted in the increase of strength.