• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.104-126
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• 2024

Buffer and backfill play an essential role in isolating high-level radioactive waste and retard the migration of leaked radionuclides in deep geological disposal system. A bentonite mixture, which exhibits a swelling property, is considered for buffer and backfill materials, and excessive groundwater inflow from surrounding rock mass may affect stability and efficiency of their role as an engineered barrier. Therefore, stringent quality control as well as in-situ installation management and inflow water constrol for buffer and backfill are required to ensure the safety of deep disposal facilities. In this study, we analyzed the design requirements of buffer and backfill by examining various laboratory tests and a field study of the Steel Tunnel Test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden. We introduced how to control the quality of buffer and backfill construction in-field, and also presented how to handle excessive groundwater inflow into disposal caverns, validating the groundwater retention capacity of bentonite pellets and the effectiveness of geotexile use.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.355-373
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• 2024

The Generalized Hoek-Brown (GHB) criterion is a nonlinear failure criterion specialized for rock engineering applications and has recently seen increased usage. However, the GHB criterion expresses the relationship between minimum and maximum principal stresses at failure, and when GSI≠100, it has disadvantage of being difficult to express as an explicit relationship between the normal and shear stresses acting on the failure plane, i.e., as a Mohr failure envelope. This disadvantage makes it challenging to apply the GHB criterion in numerical analysis techniques such as limit equilibrium analysis, upper-bound limit analysis, and the critical plane approach. Consequently, recent studies have attempted to express the GHB Mohr failure envelope as an approximate analytical formula, and there is still a need for continued interest in related research. This study presents improved formulations for the approximate GHB Mohr failure envelope, offering higher accuracy in predicting shear strength compared to existing formulas. The improved formulation process employs a method to enhance the approximation accuracy of the tangential friction angle and utilizes the tangent line equation of the nonlinear GHB failure envelope to improve the accuracy of shear strength approximation. In the latter part of this paper, the advantages and limitations of the proposed approximate GHB failure envelopes in terms of shear strength prediction accuracy and calculation time are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.5-11
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• 2014

Recently, there have been various lifeline installations constructed in the underground space of urban area due to the effective use of land. For newly installed lifelines or the management of the installed lifelines, many construction activities of excavation and backfilling are observed. Around these area, there are possibilities of collapse or excessive settlement due to the leaking of the pipe or unsatisfactory compaction of backfill material. Besides, construction costs can be saved since the on-site soils are used. The application of this liquidity filling material is not only to the lifeline installation but also to underpin the foundation under the vibrating machinery. On the evaluation of the applicability of this method to this circumstance, the strength should be investigated against the static load from the machine load as well as the vibration load from the activation of the machine. In this study, the applicability of the liquidity fill material on the foundation under the vibrating machinery is assessed via uniaxial compression and resonant column tests. The liquidity filling material consisting of the on-site soils with loess and kaolinite are tested to investigate the static and dynamic characteristics. Furthermore, the applicability of the reclaimed ash categorized as an industrial waste is evaluated for the recycle of the waste to the construction materials. The experimental results show that the shear modulus and 7 day uniaxial strength of the liquidity filling material mixed with reclaimed ash show higher than those with the on-site soils. However, the damping ratio does not show any tendency on the mixed materials.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6B
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• pp.565-575
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the expression of both multi-metric qualitative habitat evaluation index (QHEI) and biological integrity index (IBI) for artificial structures eco-artificial fish reef (EAFR) for fishes asylum and habitat. Especially, both experimental evaluation and biological verification were performed in Water and Environmental Center's outdoor test-bed of Korea Institute of Construction Technology located in Andong-city, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The experimental conditions reflecting the situation of domestic river include the flow rate (e.g., $0.0{\sim}1.5m\;s^{-1}$), the width (e.g., 1.0~3.0 m), the depth (e.g., 0.05~0.70 m), and variable bed materials. Both QHEI and IBI were monitored for 8 months from May to December 2010. Whereas QHEI values were highest at experimental points of the E~F with an average of 83.1, those were lowest at B~C with an average of 78.1. However, QHEI values inside EAFR were more than 98.9, regardelss of space and time, and indicated more than the highest good of the state (Good) in the habitat. Overally, IBI values showed similar trend with QHEI, but were 44.2 in the winter dry season, compared to 32.8 of QHEI values. IBI values Also, IBI values inside EAFR were greater than those at the experimental channel by 5.7 to 11.4% and 18.7 to 34.8% in flow and stagnant conditions, respectively, indicating that EAFR can secure asylum and habitat for fish during the dry season. For comprehensive aquatic ecosystem assessment, the experimental channel showed generally fair conditions (Fair~Good), whereas EAFR showed good conditions (Good), suggesting that EAFR can be applied to aquatic ecosystem restoration and improvement.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.374-392
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• 2024

In order to successfully select a site for deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, it is important to perform the stepwise approach along with the systematic selection and survey of evaluation parameters of geological environmental characteristics suitable for the domestic geological environment. In this study, we evaluated the characteristics of hydraulic conductivity, which is considered the most important evaluation parameter in the field of hydrogeology, targeting a deep-depth rock aquifer where actual disposal facilities are expected to be located. In particular, for the first time in Korea, we obtained in-situ pressure-flow data by directly conducting hydraulic tests in boreholes at depths ranging from 500 m to 750 m in various rock types distributed in Korea (granite/volcanic rock/gneiss/mudstone). And we derived hydraulic conductivity values by rock types and depth using verified analytical methods. For this purpose, precision hydraulic testing equipment developed in-house through this study was used, and detailed investigation procedures based on standard test methods were applied to field tests. As a result of the analysis, the average hydraulic conductivity value was found to be in the range of 10^-9 m/s in all granite/volcanic rock/gneiss areas. In the mudstone area, an average hydraulic conductivity value of 10^-11 m/s was derived, which was about 100 times (2 orders of magnitude) lower than that of the fractured rock aquifers. Moreover, permeability tended to slightly decrease with depth in fractured rock aquifers (granite and volcanic rock areas) containing many rock fractures. The gneiss area tended to have large local differences in permeability according to the composition of the stratum and the development of fracture zones rather than depth. In mudstone areas with weak fracture development, there was no significant variation in rock permeability according to depth. The hydraulic conductivity results by various rock types and depth presented in this study are expected to be utilized in building a foundational database for the site selection, design, and construction of disposal facilities in Korea.